Ligeti Lontano
Lutosławski Cello Concerto*
Schnittke Symphony No. 1

Michail Jurowski conductor
Johannes Moser cello

For Alfred Schnittke, ‘incidental’ and ‘serious’ music were one and the same. When the composer began work on his First Symphony in 1969, he was also scoring the documentary film The World Today. As music for soundtrack and symphony drifted into one another, Schnittke emerged as a unique and vital symphonic voice for the coming multimedia age. Here was a composer who sampled before sampling was invented, and whose moving, emotion-filled and energy-charged symphonies reveal the paradoxes and parallels at the heart of modern life. The First Symphony remains a dramatic, almost supernatural live experience and is heard here alongside music of earthy realism and spirit by Witold Lutosławski.

* Generously supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the Polska Music Grant programme.

Free pre-concert event
6.00-6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall
Professor Alexander Ivashkin plays cello works by Lutosławski and Schnittke, and uses unpublished correspondence between them to explore their personal relations.

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Hear it first!
Select a link below to listen to selected movements from this concert (Flash Player opens in a new window).

Ligeti: Lontano
Lutoslawski: Cello Concerto
Schnittke: Symphony No. 1 - First movement
Schnittke: Symphony No. 1 - Second movement
Schnittke: Symphony No. 1 - Fourth movement

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