Video streamed event and on demand: Magical Metamorphoses

Musical transformations are centre stage in this concert of masterworks for strings and more. 

We begin with a piece by Graham Fitkin, one of today’s most engaging British composers: Vassal started life as a string quartet and was later reworked for string orchestra, “…a great introduction to Fitkin’s expressive oeuvre, the strings working together in pounding gestures that build to great effect” (The Strad).

Following this, there’s a chance to hear the extraordinary Latvian accordionist Ksenija Sidorova, praised as “superbly subtle and virtuosic” (The Arts Desk).

Next comes Strauss’s Metamorphosen, written in the last months of World War II for 23 solo stringed instruments. Although Strauss left its meaning enigmatic, its quotation from the Beethoven ‘Eroica’ Symphony’s funeral march and the words ‘In memoriam’ on the score suggest it could be a lament for a world destroyed.

To close, Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony is the string orchestra version of his deeply personal String Quartet No.8, composed in 1960 in three days flat. Shostakovich expressed in a letter his intention that the work might one day stand as his own memorial. His musical signature theme, D-S-C-H (Dmitri Schostakovich), is central throughout, transformed at every turn.

Don't miss the interval performance from LCO Music Junction participants. 

This concert is generously supported by Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants & Resonate, a PRS Foundation initiative in participation with Association of British Orchestras, BBC Radio 3 and Boltini Trust .