Kensington Symphony Orchestra returns to Smith Square Hall to perform Rachmaninov’s powerful, emotionally charged Symphony No.3 (1935-36).
Written at Villa Senar, the composer’s home on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, this compact late work – premièred in Philadelphia in 1936 – features romantic melodies, references to the Dies irae and a thunderously triumphant conclusion.
KSO also performs Wildwood (2016) by the Swedish composer Andrea Tarrodi. Inspired by oak trees and “how their roots grow deep into the ground and their branches reach up to the sky”, her tone poem features ethereal strings, muted brass and strident climaxes interspersed with birdsong-like calls.
The concert opens with Michael Torke’s Javelin (1994), commissioned for the opening ceremony of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. Described by the American composer as his “most John Williams-like work”, it makes virtuosic demands of the orchestra and features short flashes that resemble a spear in flight.
Described as “one of the very best amateur groups in the country” by Classical Music magazine, KSO has been hailed by Classical Source for “putting on bold, adventurous programmes that few of the ‘big five’ in London would either think of or get away with”.
Image: Sim Canetty-Clarke