Two centuries of Romanticism: Mendelssohn, Mahler and Rasch and the London Symphony Orchestra

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Sunday 31 May | 7.30pm | Royal Festival Hall
'It is to be hoped that Jurowski will continue such innovative and fascinating programming,' ended one review of the concert on 22 April, which featured music by three living composers, Kancheli, Yusupov and Silvestrov.

This Sunday 31 May you can continue your exploration of contemporary classical music with Vladimir Jurowski and the London Symphony Orchestra. Torsten Rasch's song cycle Mein Herz brennt has its source in the romantic era, but from a twenty-first century perspective. Instead of nineteenth-century heart-rent words by Rimbaud or Rückert, the passionate lyrics of love and loss are taken from poetry by Till Lindemann, lead singer of rock band Rammstein, who has already used them in tracks by his band. Sung, whispered, shouted, accompanied by a stunning spectrum of orchestral sound, Rasch's songs are a mesmerising development of Mahler's late romantic music. René Pape sings the solo bass role in this UK première performance.

Mahler's first completed orchestral piece sets the scene immediately before the interval. Totenfeier was never performed in its original form in Mahler's lifetime, but he revised it only lightly to create the first movement of his Second Symphony. The fierce passion and energy of the opening bars runs deep beneath the surface of evolving delicate, melancholy passages.

The concert opens with Mendelssohn's Symphony 5 (Reformation). This symphony is also a work of contrasts, from serious music that reflects the 300th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession (for which it was intended in 1830), to Mendelssohn's uniquely bright joyousness.

Mendelssohn Symphony 5 (Reformation)
Mahler Totenfeier
Rasch Mein Herz brennt (UK première)
Vladimir Jurowski conductor | René Pape bass
Katharina Thalbach reciter | Elisabeth Meister soprano

Book Now | Tickets £9-£55
London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office
020 7840 4242 Mon-Fri 10am - 5pm. No booking fee.
www.lpo.org.uk No booking fee.
Southbank Centre Ticket Office
0871 663 2530 Daily, 9am - 8pm. £2.50 booking fee.
www.southbankcentre.co.uk/lpo £1.45 online booking fee

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