BBC Symphony Orchestra/Gardner by Schoenberg, Arnold, Brahms, Lehár, Fried, O., から (2020/2020), 導体 Edward Gardner, Barbican Centre, London, United Kingdom

Edward Gardner and the Orchestra revisit 1890s Vienna, bringing us all the searing power and extreme emotions of musical Romanticism’s last stand. In the last decade of the nineteenth century, musical Romanticism was breathing its last, reaching heights of passion that would deliver some of the most moving music in history. Written two years apart, both Arnold Schoenberg and Oskar Fried’s responses to a well-known poem on love’s power to transform and transcend share a lusciousness and warmth that could only have come from 1890s Vienna. That was the time and place where Schoenberg met his hero, Johannes Brahms and soon decided to rework a Brahms quartet known for its spontaneity, ardour, ebullience and good fun. Tenor Stuart Skelton makes a welcome return to the BBC SO to perform Lehár’s Tone Poem for Tenor & Orchestra with Edward Gardner conducting the Orchestra for his heart-rending delve into Romanticism’s last stand.