Richard Wagner’s Das Rheingold - an epic of gods and monsters - brought to the 21st century at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Das Rheingold
opera

At the Royal Festival Hall, Karina Canellakis conducts the London Philharmonic in Rachmaninov's Second Symphony, a work whose reputation for unapologetic Romanticism conceals the architectural precision required to sustain it.
A somber cello-and-bass figure unfurls into expansive string melodies; woodwinds answer before the cor anglais sings over hushed brass. The Scherzo's chattering counterpoint turns suddenly ominous. Then the Adagio arrives: a long clarinet line, unhurried above glistening arpeggios, before the Finale's carnivalesque energy gathers into a majestic violin theme that returns in full.
Rachmaninov retreated to Dresden in 1907, writing this symphony in secret, not even telling friends. It carries the weight of a composer with everything to prove. Canellakis lets the London Philharmonic Orchestra glow, holding tension until the strings finally unfurl in full-throated release and the symphony surges into flight.
(Conductor), (Composer), (Orchestra), (Director)