Conductor: Vladimir Jurowski
Soloist: Anna Vinnitskaya (Piano)
This London Philharmonic Orchestra programme explores the tensions and contradictions of twentieth-century music, from mechanised modernism to romantic virtuosity and symphonic experiment. It is an ambitious evening that places considerable demands on both performers and audience.
The Iron Foundry by Alexander Mosolov opens proceedings with raw, industrial force. In just over three minutes, the orchestra portrays a brutal landscape of hammering rhythms and relentless momentum. Brass and percussion dominate, while strings grind beneath them. At times, the sharply delineated layers feel deliberately misaligned, as though different sections are operating independently rather than as a single organism. The effect is undeniably jarring, but entirely in keeping with the work’s constructivist aesthetic, and conductor Vladimir Jurowski allows its abrasive character to speak for itself.
The concert’s emotional core arrives with Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Serge Rachmaninov. Anna Vinnitskaya delivers an authoritative performance, combining formidable virtuosity with structural clarity. Rapid variations are dispatched with precision and bite, while the celebrated eighteenth variation unfolds with warmth and poise. Throughout, she shapes the work as a coherent whole rather than a sequence of display moments, supported attentively by Jurowski and the orchestra. It is a performance that anchors the evening and is the clear standout of the programme.
After the interval, Terricone by Anna Korsun introduces a markedly different sound. Scored for a large contemporary orchestra with an expanded and unconventional percussion section, the piece unfolds through suspended textures and unpredictable gestures. Some passages are eerie, creating an atmosphere of unease. Elsewhere, however, the music’s theatrical effects verge on the quirky, moments that risk undermining the tension they seek to create. Placed at this point in the programme, the work dissipates momentum, and the energy of the evening struggles to fully reassert itself afterwards.
The concert concludes with Symphony No. 2 by Sergei Prokofiev, a formidable and uncompromising score. The first movement’s pounding rhythms evoke an industrial landscape of overwhelming force, which the LPO tackles with discipline and intensity. The second movement’s theme and variations offer contrast rather than consolation, mutating restlessly before settling into an unexpectedly subdued conclusion. Despite the orchestra’s commitment, the symphony’s cumulative impact feels slightly blunted by what precedes it.
Taken as a whole, this is a challenging and intellectually ambitious programme. While not every element achieves the same level of impact, the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s playing is consistently assured, and Anna Vinnitskaya’s performance provides a compelling focal point in an evening of striking contrasts.
Reviewed on 21 January 2026
