Dances of Death & Desire: Dvořák, Bartók & Strauss

Programme

This evening’s programme demonstrates music’s power to seduce, to disturb, and to shock.

In Dvořák’s The Golden Spinning Wheel, a mother and daughter conspire to murder, and dismember their victim’s body. Despite the gory storyline, Dvořák’s music offers us bucolic scenes, a graceful recurring theme representing the magic spinning wheel that betrays the murderers, and a glorious happily-ever-after ending.

Strauss’s Don Juan lives a life of debauchery – his adventures described in exuberant music – until he meets a violent end at the hands of the son of a man he has murdered.

Overcome by lust, King Herod has promised his stepdaughter Salome anything she desires if she will dance for him. Strauss deploys a huge orchestra to create overwhelming waves of sound, erotic and powerful.

The premiere of Bartók’s ballet The Miraculous Mandarin caused an uproar. It’s a lurid tale of prostitution, fraud, theft and murder, with a glowing ghost thrown in for good measure.

• This concert was originally advertised with soprano Jennifer Davis singing the closing scenes from Salome. Unfortunately Jennifer Davies is unwell, so the orchestra will perform Strauss’s Don Juan instead, and the running order has changed.