Making his 75th appearance at the Proms, Sir Simon Rattle conducts his London Symphony Orchestra in a programme that explores the ideas of dialogue and space. The programme includes a new work by Thomas Ad猫s, Dawn, incorporating a piano into the ensemble, while Elgar鈥檚 Introduction and Allegro 鈥� written for an all-Elgar concert given by the LSO in 1905 鈥� singles out a string quartet alongside the string orchestra, in the manner of a Baroque concerto grosso. And from the Baroque period come the brass Canzons by Giovanni Gabrieli, the 12 players arranged in separate 鈥榗hoirs鈥� which answer and collide with each other.
Alone at the piano, Mitsuko Uchida performs the famous first movement of Beethoven鈥檚 鈥楳oonlight鈥� Sonata, which merges into Kurt谩g鈥檚 鈥� quasi una fantasia 鈥� , its title taken from the nickname of the pair of sonatas of which Beethoven鈥檚 鈥楳oonlight鈥� is part. Creating an extraordinary sound palette, Kurt谩g explores 鈥榠nstrumental groups dispersed in space鈥� around the piano.
In his Fifth Symphony Vaughan Williams was deepening the dialogue in his music between the folk and the symphonic. After hearing the work鈥檚 first performance 鈥� conducted by the composer at the Proms in 1943 鈥� Adrian Boult (himself soon to become a key Proms figure) was prompted to write to Vaughan Williams: 鈥業ts serene loveliness is completely satisfying in these times and shows, as only music can, what we must work for when this madness is over鈥� 鈥� an observation as relevant today as it was then.
It will not be possible to have an audience at the Royal Albert Hall.
Live on 大象传媒 Radio 3 & on 大象传媒 Four at 8.00pm
Image: Sir Simon Rattle 漏 Oliver Helbig
