Vasily Petrenko, Conductor
Kathryn Rudge, Mezzo-soprano
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Programme:
Elgar: Sea Pictures
Mahler: Symphony No.6

Royal Festival Hall Programme Note:
Tonight’s concert is one of epic scale. Opening the performance is Elgar’s Sea Pictures, where the orchestra is joined by mezzo-soprano Rudge.

Written only five years after Elgar composed Sea Pictures, the orchestration of Mahler’s Sixth Symphony is vast, featuring massed brass, percussion and strings.

This masterpiece ends in tragedy – indeed, perhaps one of the most anguished endings of the entire repertoire.

Nevertheless, audiences have plenty of opportunity to experience the work’s beauty and joy in a dramatic musical journey before the symphony reaches its fateful conclusion.