John Adams & Harrison Birtwistle

Sir Simon Rattle conducts a study in harmony, with music from John Adams and Sir Harrison Birtwistle.

Inspired by a dream in which an oil tanker launches into space like a Saturn V rocket, John Adams’ Harmonielehre marries the rich and expressive harmonies of late Romanticism with the postmodernist developmental techniques of 20th-century minimalism.

Catch spectral glimpses of Sibelius, Debussy, Mahler and early Schoenberg as we journey through a fantastical sonic landscape, from the high-energy opening and the melancholic second movement through to the tidal wave of brass and percussion which brings the piece to its grand and uplifting final climax.

LSO Music Director Sir Simon Rattle pairs this large-scale work with Shadow of Night by British composer Sir Harrison Birtwistle.

Change of Programme
This concert will now feature Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s Shadow of Night, in place of the new work by the composer that was announced when listings were first published.