Simon Rattle conducts Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, Barbican

Ahead of his weeklong London residency with the Berlin Philharmonic, Sir Simon Rattle joins the London Symphony Orchestra to perform a quartet of 20th century classics. Rattle is one of the world’s most celebrated conductors, and his concerts with the LSO are inevitably highlights of London’s symphonic calendar. 

Anton Webern’s Six Pieces (1909) were the composer’s first atonal composition for large-scale forces. When premiered, they caused a riot. Each piece is an exquisite miniature, shot through equally nightmarish jolts and unearthly beauty. Nothing is repeated or developed; every note must speak for itself.

Coloratura soprano Barbara Hannigan’s voice is a force of nature, delivered with a wild abandon that has made her the ultimate interpreter of many modern and contemporary pieces. György Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre (1991), a suite of three arias from his opera Le Grand Macabre , is one of them. Raucously sputtering and violently grotesque, they promise to be mesmerizing. 

A trio of Fragments from Wozzeck (1922) the first modernist opera and one of Alban Berg’s masterpieces, will further exhibit the interplay between Hannigan, Rattle and the LSO. Unstintingly avant-garde but tempered with Romantic ardor, these arias are possessed of a rare psychological insight.

The concert climaxes with Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring (1913), perhaps the most famous work in the entire 20th century canon. Explosively propulsive, with moments of astonishing beauty and brutality, the Rite creates a rhythmic world unprecedented in classical music. Rattle’s previous performances of the piece have met with enormous acclaim, and there’s every sign that this night will be no different.