London Philharmonic Orchestra

Rachmaninoff The Isle of the Dead
Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1
Rachmaninoff Symphonic DancesVladimir Jurowski conductor
Elena Tanski violin

As Sergei Prokofiev’s first violin concerto began to take shape in the summer of 1915, the composer wrote of ‘a beautiful, tender theme that gives me much pleasure’. When the piece was eventually finished over four years later it was precisely those themes – the Concerto’s tender, dreamy nonchalance – that surprised those who thought its creator a noisy enfant terrible.

Forced out of Russia into exile in the USA, Serge Rachmaninoff wrote his last orchestral work in 1940, the Symphonic Dances. A strange sense of foreboding pervades these compelling orchestral choreographies, but there’s optimism in the piece too, as the composer moves from the dark world of his own The Isle of the Dead to quote the striving ‘Alleluia’ from his All-Night Vigil.

In co-operation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation.