Bartók
Concerto for Orchestra

The central ‘death-song’ features elements of Bartók’s ‘Night Music’ writing: nocturnal, magical, occasionally disturbing. (It’s hard to believe Bernard Herrmann didn’t borrow elements of this for his Hitchcock film scores.) The uncharacteristically nostalgic, lyrical tune on violas in the fourth movement quotes a popular nationalistic song:

A whooping call on horns opens the finale, a fizzing series of dances in a final fling that shows off the orchestra’s flair and virtuosity as individuals and as a collective.

_{Image © Paweł Czerwiński}

Not the Original, but the Best?

Bartók didn’t invent the idea of a ‘Concerto for Orchestra’. Before his 1943 work came examples by Hindemith (1925) and the Italians Malipiero (1931), Petrassi (1934) and Casella (1937), as well as Bartók’s friend and fellow folk-song collector, Zoltán Kodály. The late André Previn, a much-loved collaborator of the LSO, wrote his Concerto for Orchestra in 2016. (Its second movement, ‘Duets’, could even be a response to Bartók’s ‘Game of Pairs’.)

_{Image: Andre Previn © Lillian Birnbaum}

May the Fourths Be With You

The eerie, unstable effect created at the opening of Bartók’s Concerto comes from the chain of fourths in the cellos and basses (the ‘fourth’ refers to the number of stepwise pitch intervals along a standard scale). Standard harmony until the end of the 19th century had been based on thirds and fifths. Other composers who explored melodies and harmonies based on fourths include Mahler, Schoenberg, his pupil Berg, Scriabin and Ravel.

_{Image: Mahler's 2nd Symphony © Sotheby's}

Sir Georg Solti
_1912–97

Hungarian-born British conductor and pianist Sir Georg Solti was one of the most highly regarded conductors of the second half of the 20th century.

Solti studied at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest with Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály. At 18 he joined the coaching staff of the Budapest Opera and made his conducting debut there in 1938. He won the Geneva International Piano Competition in 1942. After the war he became Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich (1946–52), the Frankfurt Opera (1952–60), and the Royal Opera at Covent Garden (1961–71). He assumed British citizenship in 1972 and was knighted that same year.

From 1969 to 1991 he was Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, reestablishing that orchestra’s international reputation. He was chief conductor of the Orchestra of Paris (1972–75) and acted as musical adviser to the Paris Opéra from 1971 to 1973. He served as the principal conductor and artistic director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 1979 to 1983.

As a conductor Solti was best known for his dynamic and deeply felt interpretations of operas, symphonies, and other large-scale works. He was particularly notable for his sharp attention to musical detail and his ability to evoke a wide range of tonal colours from an orchestra. He made many highly praised recordings from the late 1940s as both conductor and solo performer. In 1958–65 Solti made the highly acclaimed first complete set of recordings of Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle, released in 1966. During his career Solti won 32 Grammy Awards, more than any other performer in recording history. 

_{Biography source: Encyclopaedia Britannica}

The LSO was established in 1904 and has a unique ethos. As a musical collective, it is built on artistic ownership and partnership. With an inimitable signature sound, the LSO’s mission is to bring the greatest music to the greatest number of people.

The LSO has been the only Resident Orchestra at the Barbican Centre in the City of London since it opened in 1982, giving 70 symphonic concerts there every year. The Orchestra works with a family of artists that includes some of the world’s greatest conductors – Sir Simon Rattle as Music Director, Principal Guest Conductors Gianandrea Noseda and François-Xavier Roth, and Michael Tilson Thomas as Conductor Laureate.

Through LSO Discovery, it is a pioneer of music education, offering musical experiences to 60,000 people every year at its music education centre LSO St Luke’s on Old Street, across East London and further afield.

The LSO strives to embrace new digital technologies in order to broaden its reach, and with the formation of its own record label LSO Live in 1999 it pioneered a revolution in recording live orchestral music. With a discography spanning many genres and including some of the most iconic recordings ever made the LSO is now the most recorded and listened to orchestra in the world, regularly reaching over 3,500,000 people worldwide each month on Spotify and beyond. The Orchestra continues to innovate through partnerships with market-leading tech companies, as well as initiatives such as LSO Play. The LSO is a highly successful creative enterprise, with 80% of all funding self-generated.

_{Image: Ranald Mackechnie}