Longing and Desire
Share
Wednesday 12 / Thursday 13 May 2021
Llewellyn Hall, ANU, 7.30pm
Simon Hewett Conductor
Sine Winther Piano
Canberra Symphony Orchestra
Richard MEALE AM, MBE Viridian
Sergei RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No. 2
Sergei PROKOFIEV Selections from Romeo and Juliet
Tickets
Adult – $59-101
Concession – $48-89
Under 30 – $30
The German word sehnsucht describes an intense, often bittersweet longing, a yearning for that unattainable something that would make one’s life complete and yet remains tantalisingly out of reach. This aching delusion, somewhere between tragedy and promise, has inspired countless poets, artists and musicians, among them Goethe, Schubert, Wagner and Strauss.
Based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Prokofiev’s ballet score of the same name is an exhilarating and ultimately devastating depiction of such perilous desire. It is a work of mighty opposites: joy and grief, fate and chance, life and death. Catastrophe looms from the work’s first moments, the tension building as instruments one by one join its haunting soundscape.
At its heady, physical climax, there’s an inevitability that all must come crashing down, as it does for Shakespeare’s ‘star-cross’d lovers’. This is Prokofiev at his most expressive and powerful, an extraordinary portrayal of reckless passion and eternal love.
Though not marred by such ‘violent ends’, Richard Meale’s Viridian is equally evocative. The Australian composer’s lush score glows with iridescent orchestral colours, a work exquisitely shaped, sonorous, verdant and sensual.
Rachmaninov’s second piano concerto dances between light and shade, full of lyrical melodies and exhilarating crescendos. The composer began the work slowly in 1901, emerging from a deep depression after the disastrous premiere of his first symphony. This atmospheric concerto saved Rachmaninov’s career, appearing decades later in David Lean’s 1945 film Brief Encounter. Perhaps its endurance lies in a kind of sehnsucht that speaks to the core of the human experience: an inconsolable longing, illuminated by a great hope.
Image: Penny Bradfield
We are working closely with all our concert venues to deliver COVID-safe concert experiences for musicians, staff and patrons. All concerts will be delivered in line with ACT Government restrictions, including requirements related to audience capacity, socially distanced seating and cleaning protocols. More information about safety measures and COVID-19 ticket exchange policy
LLEWELLYN SERIES TICKETING
To book tickets to the Wednesday or Thursday performance of Llewellyn Two: Longing and Desire, follow the “Longing and Desire” links below.
To book all four Llewellyn Series concerts and become a Llewellyn Series subscriber, follow the “Llewellyn Series subscription” links below. Llewellyn Series subscribers retain their seats in Llewellyn Hall, year after year and enjoy all the other benefits of a CSO subscription.
To discuss a custom subscription, call CSO Direct on 02 6262 6772 (weekdays, 10am – 3pm).
Seat holds for returning Llewellyn Series subscribers end COB 8 January 2021. More information