What is the story?

Tackling his First Symphony in 1895 at the age of only 22, Rachmaninoff was one of Moscow’s most promising composers. His one-act opera, Aleko – his graduation piece from the Moscow Conservatory – had been attended by Tchaikovsky, and on 28 March 1897 his First Symphony was to receive its premiere in St Petersburg. What should have been a triumph turned out to be a critical failure. The composer Alexander Glazunov, who conducted, was apparently drunk in charge of a baton.

Rachmaninoff hid outside the hall during the performance and left without taking a bow. The influential composer and critic César Cui lambasted the piece as decadent, criticising its melody, harmony, rhythm and form (so pretty much everything!) and likened it to a symphony written on the theme of the 'seven Plagues of Egypt'. Rachmaninoff fell into a creative collapse and eventually resorted to hypnotism to restore his confidence.

What is the music like?

Rachmaninoff's Symphony No 1 stands apart from his more popular later works, but it offers a tantalising glimpse of the fully fledged composer to come. Sweeping melodies are here, far more in the style of Tchaikovsky and Wagner. The ominous intoning of the Dies irae plainchant theme, of which he was later so fond, is strongly alluded to. Despite being the work of a young man, it’s brimming with ambition.

The first movement opens with a terse, doom-laden introduction, befitting Rachmaninoff, whom Stravinsky later described as ‘a six-and-a-half-foot scowl’. In the first few seconds, musical seeds are sown that will return in many hues and guises, not only in this movement but across the whole Symphony: a triple-note flourish and a darkly descending figure in the strings. By contrast, violins later extend an alluring, exotic theme that could come from a Tchaikovsky ballet.

A lithe dance opens the second movement; this will also return to begin the next two movements. There’s an urgent, under-thebreath quality as this movement glides and flickers. A wistful clarinet solo leads the slow third movement, which opens as a gentle, distant legend but is later soured by horns and timpani. The finale bounds in with a martial theme (borrowed from the opening of the first movement) but the mood of conflict is balanced by a broad-sweeping Romantic tune. Brutality wins out, though, and the ending is crushing – Rachmaninoff clearly opting to make his mark with dramatic purpose rather than with youthful entertainment.

The London Symphony Orchestra

At the London Symphony Orchestra, we believe that extraordinary music should be available to everyone, everywhere – from orchestral fans in the concert hall to first-time listeners all over the world.

The LSO was established in 1904 as one of the first orchestras shaped by its musicians. Since then, generations of remarkable talents have built the LSO’s reputation for quality, daring, ambition and a commitment to sharing the joy of music with everyone. Today, the LSO is ranked among the world’s top orchestras, reaching tens of thousands of people in London and on stages around the world, and millions more through streaming, downloads, radio, film and television.

As Resident Orchestra at the Barbican since the Centre opened in 1982, we perform some 70 concerts here every year with our family of artists: Chief Conductor Sir Antonio Pappano, Conductor Emeritus Sir Simon Rattle, Principal Guest Conductors Gianandrea Noseda and François-Xavier Roth, Conductor Laureate Michael Tilson Thomas, and Associate Artists Barbara Hannigan and André J Thomas. The LSO has major artistic residencies in Paris, Tokyo and at the Aixen-Provence Festival, and tours regularly in Asia and the US.

Through LSO Discovery, our learning and community programme, 60,000 people each year experience the transformative power of music, with many more taking part in LSO Discovery’s work on tour and online. Our musicians are at the heart of this unique programme, leading workshops, mentoring bright young talent, working with emerging composers, visiting children’s hospitals, performing at free concerts for the local community, and using music to support neurodiverse adults. Concerts for schools and families introduce children to music and the instruments of the orchestra, with an ever-growing range of digital resources and training programmes supporting teachers in the classroom.

The home of much of this work is LSO St Luke’s, our venue on Old Street. In the autumn of 2025, following a programme of works and upgrades, we opened up the venue’s unique facilities to more people than ever before, with new stateof-the-art recording facilities and community spaces.

Our record label LSO Live is a leader among orchestra-owned labels, bringing to life the excitement of a live performance. The catalogue of over 200 acclaimed recordings reflects the artistic priorities of the Orchestra – from popular new releases, such as Janáček’s Katya Kabanova with Sir Simon Rattle, to favourites like Vaughan Williams’ symphonies with Sir Antonio Pappano and Verdi’s Requiem with Gianandrea Noseda.

The LSO has been prolific in the studio since the infancy of orchestral recording, making more recordings than any other orchestra – over 2,500 projects to date – across film, video games and bespoke audio collaborations. Recent highlights include soundtrack recordings for the video game Genshin Impact, a Mercury Music Prize-nominated collaboration with Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders, and appearing on screen and on the Grammy-winning soundtrack for the film Maestro, which was also nominated for multiple BAFTA and Oscar awards.

Through inspiring music, learning programmes and digital innovations, our reach extends far beyond the concert hall. And thanks to the generous support of The City of London Corporation, Arts Council England, corporate supporters, trusts and foundations and individual donors, the LSO is able to continue sharing extraordinary music with as many people as possible, across London and the world.