ConcertPulse
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano
Barbican Centre, Barbican Hall (London)
Two reflective works from Ralph Vaughan Williams and Edward Elgar, plus Arnold Bax’s evocative portrait of the Cornish countryside.
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Two reflective works from Ralph Vaughan Williams and Edward Elgar, plus Arnold Bax’s evocative portrait of the Cornish countryside.
Star trumpeter Alison Balsom deliberately reduced her concert workload in recent years in order to concentrate on the projects close to her heart. So it was a stroke of luck that the British musician couldn’t say no when one of today’s top orchestras asked her if she would play the solo part in the trumpet concerto that Wynton Marsalis composed in 2022. The American Wynton Marsalis is one of the few artists to make a name for himself both in jazz and in classical music as a top trumpeter, not to mention his commitment to jazz in the cultural world and his support for the rights of African American musicians. After the interval, the London Symphony Orchestra transplants us to Britain with the Fifth Symphony by Ralph Vaughan Williams: written in the dark war years up to 1943, this is a score of truly luminous beauty.
Three very different musical characters meet in this British visit: a young Frenchwoman, an American classic and Sergei Rachmaninov, the »last Romantic« in music history. What an opportunity for the new chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra Sir Antonio Pappano and the Dutch violinist Janine Jansen to exhibit their versatility! Imagine what might have become of Lili Boulanger, who composed »Of a Spring Morning« in 1918 at the age of 25? She sadly died soon thereafter so we will never know. But one thing is certain: she was one of the greatest talents of her generation. One man who did make the leap from promising hopeful to one of his country’s leading composers was Samuel Barber, whose Violin Concerto, Op. 14, premiered in 1941, enjoys enduring popularity. Speaking of popularity: Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony is in a league of its own. The third movement of the work, which was premiered in Saint Petersburg in 1908, has melted the hearts of generations of concertgoers.
“I have an idea for a new work, which has no programme, but which will express what we understand by zest for life or expressions of life … where one would simply say, ’This is life’.” Thus Carl Nielsen wrote of his Fourth Symphony, which he called “The Inextinguishable”. Composed between 1914 and 1916, it is considered to be a milestone in Scandinavian music, reflecting the events of the Great War with the dramatic timpani duel in the final movement. A life in harmony and the violence of nature are likewise synonymous with Desdemona and Othello in Antonín Dvořák ’s Othello Overture. Here, too, the timpani becomes a seismograph of the emotions. Between these two “life works”, conductor Antonio Pappano has placed Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1, played by Yuja Wang. This Chinese pianist will pound the keys in the highly demanding solo part while caressing the delicate hues with ingratiating elegance.
“I have an idea for a new work, which has no programme, but which will express what we understand by zest for life or expressions of life … where one would simply say, ’This is life’.” Thus Carl Nielsen wrote of his Fourth Symphony, which he called “The Inextinguishable”. Composed between 1914 and 1916, it is considered to be a milestone in Scandinavian music, reflecting the events of the Great War with the dramatic timpani duel in the final movement. A life in harmony and the violence of nature are likewise synonymous with Desdemona and Othello in Antonín Dvořák ’s Othello Overture. Here, too, the timpani becomes a seismograph of the emotions. Between these two “life works”, conductor Antonio Pappano has placed Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1, played by Yuja Wang. This Chinese pianist will pound the keys in the highly demanding solo part while caressing the delicate hues with ingratiating elegance.
“I have an idea for a new work, which has no programme, but which will express what we understand by zest for life or expressions of life … where one would simply say, ’This is life’.” Thus Carl Nielsen wrote of his Fourth Symphony, which he called “The Inextinguishable”. Composed between 1914 and 1916, it is considered to be a milestone in Scandinavian music, reflecting the events of the Great War with the dramatic timpani duel in the final movement. A life in harmony and the violence of nature are likewise synonymous with Desdemona and Othello in Antonín Dvořák ’s Othello Overture. Here, too, the timpani becomes a seismograph of the emotions. Between these two “life works”, conductor Antonio Pappano has placed Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1, played by Yuja Wang. This Chinese pianist will pound the keys in the highly demanding solo part while caressing the delicate hues with ingratiating elegance.
Sir Antonio Pappano conducts a concert performance of Strauss’ scandalous opera Salome, with the brilliant soprano Asmik Grigorian in the title role.