Tchaikovsky, Mozart and Walton

The evening

Music Director Vasily Petrenko makes his first appearance at the Reading Hexagon with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for a dynamic programme of works. If you love Tchaikovsky’s passionate, ravishing writing, then his illustration of Francesca da Rimini from Dante’s Inferno is a must-hear. His hellish textures are chilling, the fiendish tarantella is captivating, and Francesca’s love theme is one of Tchaikovsky’s most gorgeous melodies. Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.27 was written shortly before the composer’s untimely death. Predominantly major keys are subtly coloured with minor to create an extraordinary sense of poignancy, and the music’s skipping rhythms are tinged with a wistful intensity which suggests Mozart somehow knew his end was in sight. It will be a moving showcase for acclaimed pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason. Rounding out the concert is Walton’s Symphony No.1; he wanted to blow his contemporaries out of the symphonic water, and with this volcanic eruption of dark, sensual power, he did just that.