Philharmonia Orchestra

Wed 24 Apr 8pm

Butterworth Hall: £11.50 - £36, Under 26s £12 (+ booking fee)

Conductor: Vasily Petrenko

Musicians: Nikolai Lugansky - piano

Composer: Liadov, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev

Liadov – The Enchanted Lake
Tchaikovsky – Piano Concerto No.1
Interval
Prokofiev – Symphony No.5

Moscow, January 1945: as Sergei Prokofiev waits, baton poised, to begin his new Fifth Symphony, every gun in Moscow thunders out in ear-splitting salute. Prokofiev’s Fifth was forged in the fires of war: a symphony of iron and steel, dedicated to “the greatness of the human spirit”. And from serene beginning to headlong finish, it’s still one of 20th Century music’s most thrilling adventures.

Vasily Petrenko has this music in his blood; already acclaimed for his gripping Shostakovich recordings, expect him to deliver some serious voltage at the climax of this all-Russian programme with the Philharmonia. But there’s love amongst the ruins, too, with Tchaikovsky’s hugely popular, supremely romantic First Piano Concerto – and no better soloist than the masterly Nikolai Lugansky, a pianist who combines old-school keyboard fireworks with truly poetic insights. Guns, roses, and epic emotions – Liadov’s magical tone-poem will feel like the calm before the storm.

Pre-concert Talk
Conference Room 6.45pm. Tickets £2, Subscribers £1
Paul McGrath, Director of Music, University of Warwick, in discussion with Vasily Petrenko.

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Butterworth Hall

With a maximum capacity of 2000 standing or 1500 seated this concert hall has an outstanding natural acoustic and is the home of our International Concert Series, as well as the majority of our music gigs and big name comedians. Butterworth Hall has recently had a £6.9 million redevelopment and reopened in autumn 2009 .