The Fire of the Prometheus Legend

After my afternoon visit to The Barbican on Saturday 24th September 2011 I made my way to the Royal Festival Hall via the Central and Bakerloo lines for the London Philharmonic Orchestra's concert of The Prometheus Legend.

The programme consisted of The Creatures of Prometheus (excerpts) = Beethoven, Mar'eh for Violin and Orchestra - Pintscher, Prometheus (Symphonic Poem No.5) - Liszt and Prometheus, Poem of Fire - Scriabin.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra performed with Vladimir Jurowski - Conductor, Julia Fischer - Violin, Igor Levit - Piano, London Philharmonic Choir and Lucy Carter - Lighting Designer. The evening gave us three views of Prometheus and a new violin concerto.

In Greek mythology Prometheus was a Titan who stole fire from the gods, by capturing the sparks from their chariot wheels, and gave it to mankind. He was punished by being chained to a rock and having his liver eaten by an eagle until he was eventually rescued by Heracles.

The concert began with a brilliant performance of excerpts from Beethoven's early ballet The Creatures of Prometheus with Vladimir Jurowski and the Orchestra on top form. We were then treated to the UK premiere of Matthias Pintscher's Mar'eh for Violin and Orchestra as Julia Fischer and her violin mastered this difficult piece in triumphant style. Mar'eh is a Hebrew word that means face or sign. The composer says that it can also mean the aura of a face, a beautiful vision.

After the interval with the Orchestra now all dressed in white shirts and tops there was Liszt's Symphonic Poem No.5 before the dramatic finale of Scriabin's Poem of Fire complete with light show designed by Lucy Carter. With great support from the London Philharmonic Choir and Igor Levit on piano this was a very spectacular show with the constant changing colours of the lights which finished in white brilliance.

Classical delights at the Royal Festival Hall

Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic
Orchestra give us a night to remember

On Saturday I made my way to London in great anticipation for my visit to the Royal Festival Hall for the London Philharmonic Orchestra's performance that evening. In the afternoon I visited the British Museum before making the journey to the Southbank Centre.

The programme for the evening consisted of Nocturnal Procession - Liszt, Mephisto Waltz No. 1 - Liszt, Cello Concerto in B minor - Dvorak and Symphony No. 2 in C minor (Little Russian) - Tchaikovsky. With Vladimir Jurowski as conductor and Alban Gerhardt on cello this was always going to be a night to remember.

A night of wonderful 19th Century Classical Music was guaranteed. Nauturnal Procession was a sobre way to start the concert which put the audience in an reflective mood. The second piece of music from Liszt on the evening, Mephisto Waltz is more dramatic and lively and took us to a place where we were searching for fun. Both of these works were inspired by the legend of Faust and his deal with the Devil.

Dvorak's Cello Concerto is a truly delightful work with a balance between loud and quiet, which gives the cello the opportunity to be heard in full. The passages where the Orchestra is at it's loudest is when the cello is quiet. Emotions of lost love are mixed with moments of uplifting joy. This was the highlight of the concert thanks to the skills of Vladimir Jurowski and Alban Gerhardt.

After the interval we were treated to Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 2 (Little Russian) which is based on Ukrainian folk songs. The Ukraine was known as Little Russia hence the name of this work. This was a wonderful way to finish the evening with the sounds of celebration being heard all around the Royal Fesival Hall.

This was a brilliant evening that I will remember for a long while. From the amazing venue to the brilliance of the music and the Orchestra. I made my way home on the train to Norwich with the sounds of Dvorak in my head.