London Philharmonic Orchestra | A Parting Gift

Marko Nikodijevic La lugubre gondola
Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 (Emperor)
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique)

Vladimir Jurowski conductor
Leif Ove Andsnes piano

In his final symphony, Tchaikovsky wrote his own funeral music. Tortured by an intolerant society and by his own internal strife as his long-hidden homosexuality became public, Tchaikovsky turned to music. He wrote what is probably the most vivid, heart-rending and terrifyingly beautiful vision of darkness and exhaustion ever cast in symphonic form. Days after the first performance, Tchaikovsky died – probably at his own hand. Where Tchaikovsky appears so endearingly human, Beethoven appears near immortal in the big, imperious statements of his final piano concerto, a piece that combines fervent protest, sublime melancholy and hard-hitting virtuosity to dazzling effect.