Name: Santtu conducts Elgar’s Enigma Variations
Start: 2024-06-06T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2024-06-06T00:00:00.000Z
Location: South Bank Centre

Organization

Admin

Philharmonia Orchestra

Southbank Centre

Conductor

Santtu-Matias Rouvali

Orchestra

Instrumentalist

Cellist

Sol Gabetta

Cello

Santtu conducts Elgar’s Enigma Variations

London

United Kingdom

Royal Festival Hall

Santtu conducts Elgar’s Enigma Variations: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C-sharp Minor Liszt (+2 More)

Public

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C-sharp minor

Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, op. 107

Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36

Approved

South Bank Centre

The Philharmonia Orchestra’s 2023/24 season closes with Elgar’s enduringly popular paean to friendship.

Well-known performers of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 include Tom and Jerry (in 1946 Oscar-winner The Cat Concerto), Woody Woodpecker and Rowlf the Dog on The Muppet Show. Santtu has chosen it to get the Philharmonia’s season finale off to a rousing start.

At the heart of the programme is Shostakovich’s fiery Cello Concerto No. 1. Widely considered the height of achievement for a cellist, the piece gives the principal horn, celesta, and indeed every member of the orchestra, the chance to shine too. Sol Gabetta’s last performance of this concerto with the Philharmonia was acclaimed as ‘a compelling account shot through with playfulness and poetic rhapsodising… technically formidable’ (Bachtrack).

The Enigma Variations, Elgar’s tribute to his closest friends, crowns the programme and the season. From the tender grace of the first variation, representing his beloved wife Alice, to the solemn grandeur of ‘Nimrod’, and other character sketches full of warmth and humour, this is the work that launched Elgar on the road to his status as a national treasure.

English

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Ensemble