Huge forces of orchestra and choir combine for a feast of Rachmaninoff and Enescu.
Nekrasov's poem The Verdant Noise told of a jealous husband intent on murdering his unfaithful wife. Yet these murderous thoughts were stopped in their tracks by the onset of spring. The idea of rebirth, renewal and the fresh blossoming of life swerved the murderous husband and inspired Rachmaninoff to create his first large-scale choral work - his cantata Spring - where choral fervour and orchestral glistening make for some of the composer's most affecting and descriptive music.
 
After it, Vladimir Jurowski conducts Romanian George Enescu's emotionally intense Third Symphony - a brooding, heroic and triumphant work for huge symphony orchestra and wordless chorus written at the height of the First World War.
Royal Festival Hall at 4pm – Free pre-concert event. Rex Lawson and Denis Hall, of the Pianola Institute, give a unique performance of Rachmaninoff piano rolls
 
Performers
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Vladimir Jurowski conductor
Andrei Bondarenko baritone
London Philharmonic Choir