Sound and Music

James MacMillan World Premiere

12 May 2010 7:30 PM

Barbican Hall

DEBUSSY: Prélude á l'après-midi d'un Faune

STRAVINSKY: Symphony in C

JAMES MACMILLAN: Violin Concerto

STRAVINSKY: Symphony of Psalms

Valery Gergiev conductor
Vadim Repin violin

London Symphony Chorus
London Symphony Orchestra

The LSO premieres James MacMillan's latest work, a new Violin Concerto, as part of a season-long celebration of the composer's 50th birthday. This major musical event is complemented by three masterpieces. Debussy’s enticing Prélude (1894) marked a groundbreaking development in music: ‘at the time it was written,’ his biographer claimed, ‘nothing like it existed in music.’ Stravinksy’s formidable Symphony of Psalms (1930) is contrasted with his abstract but vital Symphony in C (1940).