London Philharmonic Orchestra

Sergey Prokofiev: Symphony No.1 in D (Classical)
Edward Elgar: Cello Concerto
Interval
Jean Sibelius: Symphony No.2

An evening of Elgar's passionate Cello Concerto, Prokofiev's dazzling First Symphony and Sibelius' profound Symphony No.2.

Darkness and light, optimism and despair, anger and contentedness - each seems so close to the other in these three masterworks that aren't always as they seem.

The glistening brilliance of Prokofiev's 'Classical' Symphony was actually created under political circumstances far more attuned to the angry and often bitter elegies that haunt Elgar's still beautiful Cello Concerto.

Few of Sibelius' symphonies are as consistently thick and embracing as his Second, but even in the huge, hymn-like yearning the composer conjures at the music's apex, he appears to be striving for something he knows is unattainable.

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Vassily Sinaisky conductor
Sol Gabetta cello