On Tuesday 20 May and Sunday 25 May our 2025 series, Lights in the Dark, continued at the Royal Albert Hall, conducted by Music Director Vasily Petrenko. Global superstar pianist Yunchan Lim performed Chopin's Piano Concerto No.2 to a sold-out auditorium before the Orchestra performed Strauss' vast Alpine Symphony, and Maxim Vengerov played Sibelius' Violin Concerto in a programme that included Stravinsky's ballet The Firebird.
Read on to see photos and reviews.
All photos © Andy Paradise
The concert opened with Night on Bare Mountain. Initially composed by Modest Mussorgsky and completed after his death in 1881 by his mentor Rimsky-Korsakov, this devilish tone poem tells a captivating tale of a witches’ Sabbath, the opening filled with a sense of deep foreboding as ‘sounds of non- human' voices are heard, and the witches and spirits begin to gather together.
Next came Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.2, performed by Yunchan Lim. One of two piano concertos composed by Chopin, it is a deeply romantic work, pivoting around a heartfelt central Larghetto. For his encores, Yuncham performed Bach's Goldberg Variation No.13 and Chopin's Waltz, Op.34 No.2.
"Magic happened, however, in the first of two encores, the Variation 13 from the Goldberg Variations, where, in that strange alchemy that can occur at this venue, the space shrunk to the size of a salon and Lim hypnotised us all." The Times ⭐⭐⭐⭐
After the interval came Strauss’ Alpine Symphony. First composed in 1902 after being inspired by a trip to the Alps during his teenage years, and then revised after Mahler’s death in 1911, the Alpine Symphony is over 51 minutes long, with the unbroken score tracing a day’s journey through the Alpine mountains from daybreak to sunset. It is a work of huge dynamic contrast, showcasing the intimate quiet dawn to the explosive tempest at the work’s centre. This grand narrative is matched by a grand orchestration, featuring 120 players including eight on-stage horns and twelve off-stage horns, a heckelphone (played on a bass oboe during the concert), two harps and a large range of percussion, including wind and thunder machines.
"The music director Vasily Petrenko leads an orchestra who play with palpable hunger for him. He pulled off fine contrasts in dynamics [in the Alpine Symphony] as well as building terrific climaxes." The Times
On Sunday 25 May the concert opened with Strauss’ Don Juan. The work opens with youthful vigour, as a young Don Juan sets off in pursuit of ‘many kinds of beautiful, stimulating femininity’. It is an apparent success, as the orchestra loses itself many swooning love affairs. But Don Juan’s appetite soon gets the better of him and there is a sense of foreboding and nervous energy with the strings and brass whipping themselves into a frenzy as he takes off and puts himself in the path of his adversary’s sword. The orchestra freezes as Don Juan’s fate is sealed, and the work comes to an abrupt end with just three pianissimo chords.
The evening continued with Sibelius’ Violin Concerto in D minor, performed by Maxim Vengerov. Consisting of three movements, the concerto was completed in early 1904 and has very fierce demands on the soloist. While the writing for the orchestra is symphonic in its detail and scope, the soloist stands out against this in the same virtuosic tradition as Tchaikovsky and Bruch. Maxim’s encore was the second movement from Wieniawski's Violin Concerto No.2, which he played with the Orchestra.
"Vengerov sailed through the technical challenges with ease. He soared, he danced, he crashed." The Telegraph ⭐⭐⭐⭐
After the interval, the evening concluded with Stravinsky’s The Firebird. Based on a Russian folklore tale, The Firebird tells the story of Prince Ivan, who captures the Firebird and is granted one of her feathers in exchange for her release. He is later challenged by the ogre Kastchei, and he uses the feather to summon the Firebird and sets free the ogre’s many imprisoned creatures and at last finding happiness with a princess. The score is firmly grounded in Stravinsky’s early Russian style, incorporating traditional Russian dances and folk idioms within Stravinsky’s characteristically angular, modernist style, as well as two themes from works by his former teacher Rimsky Korsakov.
"So many dazzling little splinters of orchestral magic could start to pall, but Petrenko kept up the music's momentum unerringly." The Telegraph ⭐⭐⭐⭐
"[The Orchestra] was outstanding in every department, the tangibility of the sepulchral opening [of The Firebird] instantly signalling something special." Classical Source
Facebook and Instagram comments
An amazing concert, great to see live!
I was in the upper gallery yesterday and felt every movement you made, totally sublime! Thank you so much
It was a wonderful evening, thank you!
It was amazing to see you (Maxim) play live one of my favourites, Sibelius. Thank you
Thank you- your play was overwhelming
Absolutely wonderful concert! Congratulations and thank you for making music so beautifully! One of the best concerts I’ve been to!
Thank you to everyone who attended the concerts, and we sincerely hope you enjoyed them. Our final concert of the season with Vasily Petrenko will be at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall on Wednesday 25 June as we perform Dorothy Howell's Lamia, Florence Price's Piano Concerto in One Movement with pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, before Tchaikovsky's Symphony No.4. We hope to see you there.
All photos © Andy Paradise.