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The London Philharmonic Orchestra perform works by Adès, Barry and Stravinsky

Thomas Adès conducts the London Philharmonic in Gerald Barry's new Organ Concerto with Thomas Trotter and Stravinsky's Persephone, narrated by Dame Kristin Scott Thomas.

Composer Thomas Adès is fast becoming known as a conductor to be reckoned with, not only in his own music but also in a wide range of repertoire. This not-to-be missed concert begins with the suite from Powder her Face, the darkly comic opera which in 1995 helped established Adès as one of the UK's leading composers.

'I've never had any luck with sacristans,' says Gerald Barry, whose youthful organ playing antagonised congregations and clergy alike. Barry's new concerto, played by virtuoso Thomas Trotter on the spectacular instrument of the Royal Festival Hall, partly draws on memories of his Irish childhood. But don't expect at pastoral idyll. Barry was also inspired by a picture of a cat to put the 'fight for atonality against tonality into the concerto' which ends with organ and orchestra (including 21 metronomes) joining in the hymn, Humiliated and Insulted.

The concert finishes with a rare performance of ±Ê±ð°ù²õé±è³ó´Ç²Ô±ð, Stravinsky's restrained and austere 1930s retelling of the Greek myth of Persephone whose descent to the Underworld to become the wife of Pluto plunges the world into winter and whose return to the living brings spring. Dame Kristin Scott Thomas narrates.

Martin Handley presents, live from the Royal Festival Hall.

Thomas Adès: Powder her Face Suite
Gerald Barry: Organ Concerto (London premiere)
Stravinsky: ±Ê±ð°ù²õé±è³ó´Ç²Ô±ð

Thomas Trotter (organ)
Dame Kristin Scott Thomas (narrator)
Toby Spence (tenor)
Trinity Boys Choir
London Philharmonic Choir
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Thomas Adès (conductor).

2 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Wed 11 Apr 2018 19:30
Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 3

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Recipes

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Music Played

  • Thomas Adès

    Powder Her Face Suite

    Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Thomas Adès.

  • Thomas Adès

    Powder Her Face Suite

    Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Thomas Adès.

  • Gerald Barry

    Organ Concerto

    Performer: Thomas Trotter. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra.

  • Igor Stravinsky

    Suite italienne for cello and piano [arr. from 'Pulcinella' in collab. with Piatigorsky]

    Performer: Torleif Thedéen. Performer: Roland Pöntinen.
    • The Russian Cello.
    • BIS.
    • 1-6.

  • Igor Stravinsky

    ±Ê±ð°ù²õé±è³ó´Ç²Ô±ð

    Performer: Toby Spence. Performer: Dame Kristin Scott Thomas.

  • Maurice Ravel

    La valse arr for piano

    Performer: Steven Osborne.
    • Ravel: The Complete Solo Piano Music: Steven Osborne, Piano.
    • Hyperion.
    • 12.

  • Maurice Ravel

    Sérénade grotesque

    Performer: Steven Osborne.
    • Ravel: The Complete Solo Piano Music: Steven Osborne, Piano.
    • Hyperion.
    • 9.

Credit

Performer Â鶹ԼÅÄ Symphony Chorus

Broadcast

  • Wed 11 Apr 2018 19:30
    Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 3