Music on the edge: James MacMillan got the idea for The Berserking at a football match, and
channelled an outburst of reckless, explosive fury into what one critic has called the greatest piece of British music since Benjamin Britten. Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet strips the sentimentality from Shakespeare’s tragedy in one of the greatest and most moving of all 20th century ballet scores. And as for Hamlet – well, confronted with Shakespeare’s great psychological drama, no composer as extrovert as Franz Liszt was ever likely to hold back. Keyboard heavyweight Peter Donohoe unleashes his full virtuoso powers while Carlos Miguel Prieto lavishes all his trademark fire on a concert of dangerous extremes.
Prelude: 6.45pm in the Recital Room
Critic and Prokofiev biographer David Nice introduces the music in this evening’s programme.
Post-Concert Coda (approximately 10 minutes after the main concert)
The second of three Coda recitals, curated by Peter Donohoe, to complement the MacMillan
piano concertos.
