On a balmy evening in Liverpool, Vasily Petrenko led the RLPO in two works that explored differenet apsects of lamentation, preceded by a Straussian toboggan ride.
Iolanta and Francesca da Rimini work particularly well as a double bill because both works share the theme of lovers who find themselves at the mercy of possessive forces. Iolanta's domineering father ultimately yields in Tchaikovsky's opera, but in Rachmaninov's the deceitful Lanceotto is not so accommodating.
