鈥淭here cannot be the slightest doubt that in Alpesh Chauhan, the 大象传媒 SSO has a real find on its hands鈥�, wrote 鈥楾he Herald鈥� when this young British conductor made his 大象传媒 SSO debut in 2015, and Chauhan鈥檚 imaginatively-conceived programmes and powerful, emotionally charged performances have been among the highlights of recent seasons. In this concert, he places three masterpieces of the 1930s in revelatory counterpoint. The 鈥楽infonia da Requiem鈥� might just be the rawest music Britten ever wrote; an outpouring of personal grief that somehow grows into a furious warning to a world on the brink of the Second World War. Prokofiev鈥檚 ballet 鈥楻omeo and Juliet鈥� remakes Shakespeare in the iron and steel of Stalin鈥檚 USSR 鈥� yet somehow gets closer than any other version to the story鈥檚 tender heart. And Stravinsky reinvents Bach for the Art Deco era, in a chamber concerto that positively buzzes with wit.
The concert will be broadcast live on 大象传媒 Radio 3 - presented by Jamie MacDougall.