London Symphony Orchestra / Gianandrea Noseda

Wagner Prelude and Liebestod from ‘Tristan und Isolde’
Berg Three Fragments from ‘Wozzeck’
Beethoven Symphony No 5

Gianandrea Noseda conductor
Angela Denoke soprano
London Symphony Orchestra

Wagner’s ‘Prelude and Liebestod’ (literally, ‘love in death’) from Tristan und Isolde showcases the opera’s main themes to tell the story of these ill-fated lovers. For his sinister opera Wozzeck, Berg forged a libretto from a play left incomplete by German playwright Georg Büchner, and strove to musically retain the play’s ‘abrupt and sometimes brutal language, and its stark, if haunted, realism’. Beethoven’s Symphony No 5 contains the famous four-note motif that is often said to represent ‘fate knocking at the door’ after a conversation the composer reportedly had with author Anton Schindler.

Pre-concert performance
Guildhall Artists at the Barbican
6–6.45pm, Barbican Hall
Free entry
Berg Piano Sonata Op 1 and Beethoven Piano Sonata Op 109 performed by Mishka Rushdie Momen (piano)