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16
A Monk rings the bells.
LONDON CONCERT CHOIR IN AN
ALL-RUSSIAN CONCERT
London Concert Choir and conductor
Mark Forkgen with the Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra will present a
concert of Russian music at the Barbican
on Wednesday 29 March.
The evening begins with a fanfare
introducing the grand Polonaise from
the ball scene of Tchaikovsky’s opera
Eugene Onegin. In the well-known suite
from Borodin’s opera Prince Igor, the
captive prince is entertained by the
retinue of the Polovtsian leader Khan
Konchak in an exhilarating sequence of
exotic songs and dances. The first half
ends with Tchaikovsky’s Fantasy
Overture – Romeo and Juliet, his
passionate orchestral interpretation of
the contrasting themes of Shakespeare’s
tragedy: romantic love, violent conflict
and final reconciliation.
The second half of the concert
showcases choir and orchestra plus
three excellent soloists in
Rachmaninov’s choral symphony The
Bells. Its four movements brilliantly
portray the glittering silver sleigh-bells,
mellow golden wedding bells, loud
brass alarm bells and mournful iron
funeral bells on the journey from youth
to the grave. Rachmaninov wrote it in
1913 and said it was his favourite of all
his compositions. The words are from a
Russian version by Balmont of the poem
of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe.
Soloists in The Bells are the soprano
Natalya Romaniw, tenor Andrew Rees
and bass baritone Michael Druiett.
London Concert Choir is one of
London’s leading amateur choirs. With
Mark Forkgen, who this season
celebrates 20 years as the choir’s Music
Director, LCC regularly appears at all the
major London concert venues and is
notable for the conviction and
expressiveness of its performances in an
unusually broad repertoire.
The nearest station is Barbican.
Tickets at £12 to £35 are available from
020 7638 8891 or online at
www.barbican.org.uk
t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g a z i n e • t h i s i s l o n d o n o n l i n e