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PROGRAMME NOTES

FEATURED

Dmitri Schostakovich / Symphony No.5 (1937)

Arguably his most popular symphony, this work paints a new direction for the composer’s style and hides within it a codified message to the oppressive Soviet regime of the time, surrounded by music both devastating and enticing.

Author:

PHOEBUS KYRIAKOUDIS

Phoebus is a second-year music student at King's College London. An aspiring conductor and pianist, he is chiefly interested in the twentieth century in music.

Find out more about Phoebus here

Phoebus Kyriakoudis

4 days ago
8 min

Dmitri Schostakovich / Symphony No.5 (1937)

Shostakovich responds to the harsh critique by the Stalinist regime of his time with a work both devastating and enticing.

Zack Dickerson

Oct 18
5 min

Richard Wagner / Wesendonck Lieder (1858)

The Wesendonck Lieder represent a key moment in Wagner’s life. They explore illicit love, 19th-century philosophy, and a new musical style.

Rita Fernandes

Oct 11
5 min

Alban Berg / Lulu (1935)

An ingenious mix of contemporary techniques, operatic legacy and cultural developments, Lulu explores sexuality in often brutal ways.

Zack Dickerson

Oct 4
4 min

Ludwig van Beethoven / An die ferne Geliebte (1816)

A look at Beethoven's song cycle in celebration of his 250th birthyear and examining its romantic and revolutionary nature.

Rita Fernandes

Sep 27
3 min

Jacob Kirkegaard / 4 Rooms (2006)

Layered sound recordings of four separate rooms in the post-Chernobyl 'alienation zone' by Danish sound artist Jacob Kirkegaard.

Phoebus Kyriakoudis

Sep 20
8 min

Manos Xatzidakis / For a Little White Seashell (1947)

A suite for piano that illustrates the dialogue of the old and new in search for emotional truth in post-war Greek music.

Rita Fernandes

Sep 13
5 min

Richard Strauss / Also Sprach Zarathustra (1896)

This tone poem of epic proportions goes above and beyond in musically translating Nietzsche's novel of the same name.

Rita Fernandes

Sep 6
5 min

Alban Berg / Altenberg Lieder Op.4 (1912)

Rita Fernandes / Based on Peter Altenberg's picture-postcard texts, these songs explore Berg's short-lived aphoristic style.

Rita Fernandes

Aug 30
3 min

Schoenberg and Webern: Viennese Explorations

Rita Fernandes / Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony No.1 and Webern's Five Pieces for Orchestra

Rita Fernandes

Aug 12
2 min

Johannes Brahms / Symphony No.1 (1876)

Rita Fernandes / The story of this symphony begins long before Brahms' birth, but instead at that of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony...