Edinburgh City Orchestra - Wagner and Rachmaninov

The Edinburgh City Orchestra, and conductor Peter Le Tissier, return to Edinburgh's iconic St.Giles' Cathedral to present a programme of two works full of dramatic intensity, expressions of love and loss and, ultimately, triumphal ecstasy.

Wagner's Tristan und Isolde caused scandal when first performed in Munich in 1865. It doesn't take long to search for reasons why this would be the case - written in a period of Wagner's life where his exile from Germany had left him destitute, he had found support from the wealthy Otto Wesendonck in Zürich, where he lived on the grounds of the estate. However, Wagner and Wesendonck's wife, Mathilde, soon began an, if not physical, then emotional affair with one another. During this period, where impossible love clashed with the morality of the world Wagner knew, he begun writing the work Tristan und Isolde; based on the ancient celtic legend of two lovers separated by marriages and treaties, whose only solace comes in the dark of night.

Perhaps Wagner's most famous and significant musical testament, the work's prelude and close, known as the Liebestod (love-death) contain crunching harmonies and unresolved tensions that reflect the lovers', both real and imagined, impossible and irreconcilable loves. Famous for its 'Tristan chord', which some have said changed the face of music forever, the work bursts with passion and eventually finds itself in a place of solace and rest.

Rachmaninov's 2nd symphony was a return to the genre that had so nearly ended his career as a young man. After the disastrous premiere of his 1st Symphony, Rachmaninov spent a number of years in compositional silence, only finally broken in 1901 by his triumphant and ever-popular 2nd piano concerto. However, the composer hesitated before returning to the genre that had caused all of the trouble in the first place. The resultant 2nd symphony is a towering work of grand gestures, boldness, assertiveness and finally overwhelming ecstasy. A turbulent opening movement with beautiful lyrical sections gives way to an allegro 2nd movement full of agression and violent outbursts. At his beautiful, song-like best, the 3rd movement stands as an island of peace in the chaos, with heart-rending loneliness contrasted with the composer's typical passionate gestures. The finale brings the work, eventually, to a joyful close in overwhelming triumph.

Do be sure to secure your ticket to this special event fast, as numbers are limited. We hope to see you at the performance!

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