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LSO: Always Playing – Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony tonight @ 7.30pm

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A real treat lies in store tonight in the form of Mahler‘s Symphony no.2, the Resurrection – and you can sing along.

This stream from the London Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Semyon Bychkov (above), with vocal soloists Christiane Karg (soprano) and Ana Larsson (contralto).

The London Symphony Chorus and their director Simon Halsey provide the incredibly uplifting choral passages in the fifth and final movement – and you too can take part! For one night only the vocal score for the Resurrection is free to download, by following the link from the LSO website here

You could even pause the action at the end of the first movement, clap for the UK’s NHS staff, carers and delivery drivers, and resume after the ‘interval’. The performance, from Sunday 4 February 2018, can be seen on the orchestra’s YouTube channel from 7.15pm tonight here:

Semyon Bychkov photo credit: Umberto Nicoletti

Listen at home – City of London Sinfonia: Comfortable Classical

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Matthew Maguire, violinist with the City of London Sinfonia
Photo by Kaupo Kikkas, 2017

The response to the coronavirus pandemic from choirs and orchestras has been nothing short of heartening over the last month. While many groups are making archive concerts available online for the first time, some are enlisting individual players to engage with their audience as performers, teachers or both.

The City of London Sinfonia is offering half-hour sessions of Comfortable Classical at Home for all ages to enjoy. From first hand experience these sessions are extremely effective, gently educating and musically stimulating. The chosen instrumentalists have been natural teachers, and the passion for what they do is evident – but they are affable and relaxed, too, offering behind the scenes insights into their own lives and homes.

Past episodes include cellists Joely Koos and Becky Knight (who played Bach in her bathroom and demonstrated a talent for a poignant haiku), clarinetist Katherine Spencer (who played Stravinsky in her back garden!), orchestra leader Alexandra Wood and principal oboe Daniel Bates. Tomorrow – Thursday 16 April – violinist Matthew Maguire will bring Bach, Blues and improvisation to his session from home.

You can watch on the orchestra’s Facebook page from 11.30am – on every Tuesday and Thursday. You can also catch up on past episodes from the orchestra’s blog here.

Tenebrae & Nigel Short: Sacred Songs – The Secrets of Our Hearts

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The Coronavirus pandemic looks set to change the way we listen to music for ever – and hopefully in a good way. Certainly if this ‘socially distanced’ concert from Tenebrae, given on BBC4 on Easter Day, is anything to go by. The 20 singers were arranged in the form of a conventional choir, to the viewer at least, but they all recorded their contributions remotely.

Thanks to this BBC4 were able to intricately stitch together a memorable half-hour sequence of music from J.S. Bach, Lobo, Purcell and Hubert Parry, an excerpt from his Songs of Farewell. Allegri’s timeless Miserere is also included.

While the togetherness and chemistry is inevitably not what it would have been had the choir been in the same room, this is an extraordinary achievement by the choir and their conductor Nigel Short. It is also one you can enjoy in your own place of lockdown for the next month, so make sure you watch in good time!

Tenebrae, conducted by Nigel Short, sing the following music:
J.S. Bach Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden
Lobo Versa est in luctum
Allegri Miserere
Purcell/Croft Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts
Parry My soul, there is a country
J.S. Bach Ach Herr, lass dein lieb Engelein

You can watch the concert here

LSO: Always Playing – Rachmaninov, Shostakovich & Balakirev tonight at 7pm

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Tonight’s London Symphony Orchestra concert promises a trio of Russian treats. Firstly Seong-Jin Cho is the soloist in Rachmaninov‘s Piano Concerto no.2 – surely one of the best-loved of all piano concertos. Following this is another Russian work with piano, Balakirev‘s Islamey – only this time in the orchestral arrangement by the Italian composer Alfredo Casella. An exotic piece, it is a travelogue inspired by a visit to the Caucasus.

Following this we have the chance to marvel at the prodigious Symphony no.1 by the teenage Shostakovich. His graduation piece, it shows already the hallmarks that were to distinguish him as an exceptional symphonist in the 20th century.

Gianandrea Noseda, currently in the midst of a Shostakovich symphony cycle with the London Symphony Orchestra for their LSO Live label, conducts this performance from March 2019, which you can watch on the orchestra’s YouTube channel from 7pm tonight here:

Tonight – Max Richter: Sleep

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Tonight will give you another chance to find out, as the complete work will be broadcast once again on BBC Radio 3, starting at 11pm tonight. Richter wrote Sleep in 20xx, confirming it was indeed an extended lullaby, intended at the very least to provide solace in the small hours. See how long you last!

You can experience Sleep on the BBC Radio 3 website here