Founded in 1904, London Symphony Orchestra is considered one of the world’s finest orchestras. Its conductors have included artists such as Edward Elgar, Arthur Nikisch, Thomas Beecham, Pierre Monteux, André Previn, Claudio Abbado, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Simon Rattle. Since 2024, it has been led by Sir Antonio Pappano – a British conductor and pianist of Italian descent, born in 1959. The concert in Wrocław will feature the Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho, winner of the 2015 International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition. The programme will include works by Gioacchino Rossini, Fryderyk Chopin, and Ludwig van Beethoven.

Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, written at the turn of 1830, represents an early stage in the composer’s career, when he was still writing in brillant style. Although the work was inspired by his affection for the singer Konstancja Gładkowska, it was dedicated to Delfina Potocka. Its premiere took place in 1830 at the Grand Theatre in Warsaw. The composer sat at the piano, and the Concerto was a resounding success. This success was undoubtedly due to the fact that for Chopin, the impressiveness of his music was not the ultimate goal. In composing, he sought to express himself, as he admitted in a letter to Tytus Wojciechowski: “I say to the piano what I would often say to you.” This statement applies particularly to the dreamlike slow movement, which has the character of a melodious nocturne. The finale features a stylisation of the Polish folk dance, the kujawiak. This work will be preceded by a performance of Rossini’s The Semiramide Overture, initially filled with pathos, but gradually gaining in lightness. This opera seria premiered in 1823. The libretto, written by Gaetano Rossi, is based on one of Voltaire’s tragedies.

The second part of the concert will feature Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor, completed in 1808. Thanks to the power of dramatic expression and the catchy (though likely untrue) story of its main motif, described by biographers as the “fate motif”, this work almost immediately entered the canon of symphonic music. The Fifth Symphony remains one of the most popular orchestral works, so it’s no wonder it is frequently recorded. We owe one of its first phonograph recordings to Arthur Nikisch, conductor of London Symphony Orchestra, who recorded the work in Berlin as early as 1913. London Symphony Orchestra has given us outstanding interpretations of this symphony conducted by, among others, Josef Krips, Pierre Monteux, Eugen Jochum, Antal Dorati, André Previn, and Bernard Haitink.