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Details
Barbican Hall
Silk Street
Barbican, City of London
London
EC2Y 8DS
England
Programme
Claude Debussy – Music for King Lear
Hector Berlioz – King Lear: Overture
~ Interval ~
Gustav Mahler – Symphony no.4 in G major
Performers
Lucy Crowe – soprano
Sir Simon Rattle – Conductor
London Symphony Orchestra
Other concerts in this Season
Programme Note
A child’s view of heaven, and Shakespeare’s vision of hell: Sir Simon Rattle pairs Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with dramatic rarities by Berlioz and Debussy.
Mahler isn’t necessarily massive, and his Fourth Symphony begins with sleighbells, birdsong, and a melody straight out of Mozart. It all seems deliciously simple. But this is Mahler, after all, and between that playful opening and the final portrayal of a child’s Heaven, there’s a whole universe of drama, emotion and heart-piercing beauty.
Sir Simon Rattle understands all that, of course. Mahler is one of the enduring loves of his musical life, and with soprano Lucy Crowe bringing all her insight and vocal radiance to that extraordinary finale, it’ll sound lovelier and more blissful than ever. But with Rattle, music is always part of a bigger picture, and two very different, (and very French) responses to Shakespeare’s bleakest drama will throw a fascinating new light on Mahler’s great song of innocence and experience.
