Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet (Overture-Fantasy)
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor, Op. 1
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36
Led by its principal conductor, the young and talented Santtu-Matias Rouvali, the Philharmonia Orchestra, one of the most outstanding London ensembles in the world, presents a programme with a markedly passionate character. In the Romeo and Juliet Overture Tchaikovsky captured the emotional maelstrom provoked by a failed love story. For its part, Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1 is defined by its youthful temperament and freshness. The composer wrote it when he was only 18 years old and still a student at the Moscow Conservatory, although he revised it 26 years later.
Yuja Wang has performed it all over the world, receiving excellent reviews for his ability to create dreamy states in the most lyrical passages of the work and impart brightness and energy to the more rhythmic ones. Tchaikovsky revealed in a letter to his protector Nadezhda von Meck that the core of his Fourth Symphony is its introduction, which represents Fate. The music that follows was inspired by the struggle between dreams and reality that we all have to cope with.
