Work: Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum, for orchestra

A programme of new music and 20th-century classics reflects on loss, war, inhumanity and redemption. 

Two fine concerts from Riccardo Chailly’s Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra filled part of the space between end-of-season Proms from the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics. They brought Mendelssohn of refinement and poise to Prom 67 and dark, fateful thrust in Messiaen and Mahler for Prom 69.

Three enormous ear-splitting tam-tams were employed in Messiaen’s Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorem, the largest being truly gigantic, maybe 10ft (3m.) in diameter. When we reassembled after the interval to hear the LSO perform Bruckner’s 9th symphony, this massive tam-tam was still centre-stage, at the back lowering over the orchestra.

This evening’s programme of Messiaen and Bruckner ought to have come with a health warning beforehand – caution: not for the fainthearted. Following on from Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration last month, the LSO’s programming seems to be continuing in a similar vein, with this concert united by the theme of death and religious conviction.