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Monday 29th June 2009 at St John's Smith Square
Conductor Tecwyn Evans
Rossini William Tell Overture
Wagner Prelude and Liebestod (Tristan und Isolde)
Shostakovich Symphony No. 15
Wagner met Rossini in 1860, and later wrote he was as important to his age as Palestrina, Bach and Mozart were to theirs. William Tell ran into censorship problems in Italy for glorifying a hero against authority, and was Rossini's final opera, but the overture in 4 contrasting sections remains a worldwide favourite.
The continual yearning in the most romantic of operas Tristan und Isolde, by the revolutionary suspension of musical resolution until death in the Liebestod at the very end of the opera, increased the relative importance of the sound of a chord at any instant and has been said to prepare the way for atonality in the following century. This is apparent from the first chord of the Prelude (now known as the Tristan chord) which was first performed in 1859, and was joined by the Liebestod in concert in 1863, two years before the opera was staged.
Shostakovich composed his 15th Symphony in just over a month following a spell in hospital as his health deteriorated. It looks back on his troubled life (even the lively opening movement has a feeling of unease) and the Fate theme from Wagner's Ring is prominent in the final movement, so there is perhaps a little positive irony that it was first conducted by his son Maxim on 8th January 1972. The remarkable ending has the percussion clocklike with the eerie violin sound not unlike that of monitors experienced in the intensive care ward.
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2007-2009
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