Gianandrea Noseda: The 2024/25 Season

‘I feel a serious attachment with the LSO. My first concert with them was over 15 years ago, so it’s been a long relationship. To be associated with London Symphony Orchestra is a highlight of my activity as a conductor.’

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‘When you do a symphonic cycle, even if it takes six years to be completed, you approach all the symphonies with the feeling of a story to be told. It’s like a novel with different chapters.’

Shostakovich’s Symphonies

‘To say Shostakovich’s Symphony No 12 is a celebration is probably a little bit ambitious. However, he wrote the Symphony to praise Vladamir Lenin as the beginner of the revolution against Czarism. Of course, the revolution didn’t necessarily bring more freedom, as Russia went from one dictatorship to another. But for Shostakovich, this Symphony is a retrospective look at the period, full of craftsmanship from his composing hand.

Symphony No 2 is another celebratory piece called ‘To October’, celebrating the Revolution of October 1917. It is adventurous, more dissonant, and completely different from the world of Symphony No 1, which was a great success for Shostakovich. But for composers like Shostakovich, Beethoven, Verdi or Mozart, when they had great success, they didn’t want to take advantage of that. They wanted to move forward, even if there was a risk around the corner because they didn’t know if they’d be as successful. The result is very chromatic with a huge use of musical canons, showing the musical imagination of Shostakovich at the age of 21 was remarkable.

Prokofiev’s Symphonies

‘Prokofiev was one of the most gifted composers at writing melodies, and that makes his music approachable for anyone. As a young composer, he started in a very aggressive style to establish himself, but later in his career he found a language that connected with the audience. It’s very refined, his way of composing, without losing a moment of melody – and there’s also an element of bitterness, an ironic sense of humour.

There’s also an element of bitterness, an ironic sense of humour.

Prokofiev’s Symphony No 2 is particularly intriguing because it’s a Symphony that doesn’t have anything before it. If we consider that No 3 takes the music from The Fiery Angel opera, No 4 from the ballet, The Prodigal Son, and No 1 an example from the Haydn’s symphonies, there is not a prologue or prelude before the Symphony No 2.

Prokofiev was living in Paris at the time of writing this Symphony. For three or four years, he didn’t produce much music. So in Paris they were telling him, ‘Oh, you are just taking advantage of your success from the past’. His reply: ‘OK, you think that about me? Here is what I present.’ So he composed this shocking Symphony, with the idea to present something that is completely new and destructive but also connected to the past. He wanted also to revise this Symphony. He wanted to make a revision to to add the third movement but he never did that. So what we have now is a Symphony in two movements, with the first one very dynamic, very propelling, and the second one more gentle.

James MacMillan Violin Concerto No 2 with Nicola Benedetti

‘I have conducted several pieces composed by Sir James MacMillan, and I like his way of composing. It’s like poetry as there is always a structure. It is great to have the possibility to perform the Violin Concerto with Nicola Benedetti as it gives me assurance that we’ll give a good account of it. I think the language of MacMillan is very communicative and yet very modern so he doesn’t try to seduce the audience, he connects to the audience, but with a very modern language which is fascinating.’

Beethoven Piano Concerto No 1 with Alice Sara Ott
‘I think Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto is the natural bridge between the late Mozart piano concertos and the Beethoven ones. There is always this possibility of two ways to approach it, either to consider it in a very classical way, following Mozart, or as an opener of showing a new way of writing for the instrument and form. It’s already pure Beethoven of course, you immediately feel the personality. Alice Sara Ott, the soloist, has a great sense of integrity and a greater feeling of the momentum, meaning she is able to invent a moment on the spot. For me, it is this element that I appreciate very much in Alice Sara Ott.’

Schnittke Violin Concerto No 1 with Lisa Batiashvili

‘I haven’t performed Schnittke’s First Violin Concerto before but I trust and share the passion that Lisa Batiashvili has for the piece. I very much like Schnittke and to define his music only by its eclecticism is not right. He’s a great composer that never scares the audience because there is always this element of opera buffa (comic moments, some moments of tragedy, of course). To have Lisa is also fantastic because she’s a really great advocate for this music.’

Johannes Brahms’ Song of Destiny is one of the most beautiful choral music pieces he composed. There is this an element of spirituality which I don’t call religious but the piece touches some chords of the human spirit. It is absolutely engagingly deep and yet also very, very easy to be approached – just a spectacular piece of music!