The Music

In 1820, the 23-year-old Schubert wrote an overture and some other movements to be performed as part of the ‘magic play with music’ called Die Zauberharfe (The Magic Harp). The words are now lost, but by most accounts the quality was substandard and the plot convoluted.

A supernatural tale of knights, fairies and spirits, in which a magic harp plays a role in defeating the evil fire-spirit, the play ran for only eight performances. One critic said it overflowed with ‘distressing tedium’. Another noted, ‘What a pity that Schubert’s wonderfully beautiful music had not found a worthier subject.’ Schubert later transferred this overture to his music for another drama, Rosamunde, Fürstin von Zypern (Rosamunde, Princess of Cyprus), so it is known by the names of both works.

The short, solemn introduction leads to a number of contrasting themes. The first is a lyrical tune (initially heard on oboe and clarinet) that could be an Italian opera aria of the time (a theme Schubert borrowed in an earlier overture in the Italian Style). A carefree tune on violins is infectiously dancelike at first but becomes more heroic.

The third theme – another lyrical one, starting on clarinet and bassoon – soon leads to a spiky, lightly galloping section that mimics the Italian composer Gioachino Rossini, whose comic operas were all the rage at the time. These three themes return in various guises, before an invigorating coda leaves us ready for curtain-up and the main event to follow.

The Music

Prokofiev was something of a musical chameleon, able to change his stripes depending on fashion or circumstance. His First Symphony, completed in 1917, was a homage to the composer Joseph Haydn and the clarity and transparency of the Classical period. His Second Symphony, eight years later, was a world apart. By this time, Prokofiev, recently married, had moved to Paris, the centre of the European avant-garde. This new symphony, he said, was to be forged ‘of iron and steel’. Unusually, he cast it in two movements, inspired by the form of Beethoven’s final piano sonata, Op 111 – ‘a sombre first movement,’ he said, followed by a theme-and-variations movement. The symphony was first performed in Paris on 6 June 1925, to general confusion. Even Prokofiev wondered afterwards whether he was destined to become a second-rate composer.

Garish, dissonant and hectic, the first movement is a flurry of activity, opening with high violins, blaring brass and thundering bass drum and timpani. The busy-ness subsides for a tense, rhythmic clockwork effect, beneath which an ominous procession emerges in the low bass instruments; this idea returns throughout the movement. Streaked with irony, this first movement ranges in tone from cheeky to subversive and from clarity to mayhem.

The second movement is twice as long as the first, with a theme followed by six variations. The opening mood here is more settled, but there is an air of mystery. The theme appears on the oboe (marked ‘sweet and simple’). The first variation glows with strange, otherworldly harmonies. Variation two opens with spring-like optimism, with bird-like calls in the wind instruments and a gently rushing accompaniment. The mood soon clouds over with solemn brass before the spring-like music returns.

Variation three remains quick, using instrumental groupings in blocks. The longest variation, variation four, turns back to the mysterious mood of the first variation, whereas the fifth bursts in with ceaseless energy and builds to a bracing climax. The sixth and final variation opens with extremes of prowling bass instruments and high oboes, and later brings back the ominous processional idea from the first movement. There is hammered brutality here, worthy of the machine age. The theme returns for a consolatory close, even if the final string chord leaves an eerie question mark.

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 Orchestra’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 well over 100,000 people in London, more on stages around the world, and millions through streaming, downloads, radio and television.

As Resident Orchestra at the Barbican since the Centre opened in 1982, we perform some 70 concerts there 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 Aix-en-Provence Festival, and a growing presence across Australasia.

Through LSO Discovery, our learning and community programme, 60,000 people each year experience the transformative power of music, in person, 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 ambition of LSO Discovery is to share inspiring, inclusive opportunities with performers, creators and listeners of all ages. The home of much of this work is LSO St Luke’s, our venue on

Old Street. In autumn 2025, following a programme of works, we will be re-opening the venue’s unique spaces to more people than ever before, with new state-of-the-art recording facilities and dedicated spaces for LSO Discovery’s programme.

Our record label LSO Live celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2024/25, and 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.

Throughout its history, LSO Live has always been at the forefront of digital recording, sharing the LSO’s performances with millions of people around the world every month through streaming services, digital partnerships and an extensive programme of live-streamed and on-demand online broadcasts.

The LSO has been prolific in the studio since the infancy of orchestral recording, and has made more recordings than any other orchestra – over 2,500 projects to date – across film, video games and bespoke audio collaborations. Recent highlights include the Mercury-Music-Prize-nominated Promises collaboration with Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders, appearing on screen and on the soundtrack for the Oscar-nominated film Maestro, and an Emmy- and Grammy-nominated performance of Love Will Survive with Barbra Streisand.

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, throughout the UK, and around the world.

Programme Notes Edward Bhesania. Edward Bhesania is a music journalist and editor who writes for The Stage, The Strad and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
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