Wagner, Strauss and Tchaikovsky: Last Songs
General booking opens 10am Tuesday 29 April. Join the Friends to book today.

Artists
Lorenzo Viotti – conductor
Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha – soprano
Programme
Wagner Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde
Strauss Four Last Songs
— Interval —
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6, ‘Pathétique’
The Philharmonia’s 80th birthday celebrations continue with a concert showcasing the huge range of emotions an orchestra can express in sound.
Composed when he was 84, Richard Strauss’s serene Four Last Songs speak of gratitude for a life well lived, the riches of creation, and the joy of human love. Strauss, who conducted the Philharmonia himself in its early days, wrote to soprano Kirsten Flagstad that the piece ‘should be at your disposal for a world premiere… with a first-class conductor and orchestra’. And it was with the Philharmonia that she gave that first performance in 1950.
Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha follows in these illustrious footsteps. ‘The South African has a sumptuous, plush sound… Hear [her] live and it’s as if you’ve died and (sins allowing) gone straight to Heaven.’ (The Times).
Wagner evokes a much stormier kind of love in his Prelude and Liebestod. These two orchestral passages from his opera Tristan and Isolde are a musical embodiment of intense and passionate longing – the medieval lovers of the opera’s title can be united only in death.
Tchaikovsky’s final symphony crowns this evening’s programme. At the height of his compositional powers, Tchaikovsky overturned many of the conventions of the symphony. The second movement, which at first sounds like a graceful waltz, in fact has an unsettling five beats in a bar; the third reaches its climax with a blaze of brass and percussion which would have made the perfect triumphant finale; but the actual finale ends with a devastating descent into silence.
Need to know
Prices & Discounts
£17 – £82
Multibuy offer available; under-18s and concessions discounts available.
The price of your ticket includes a £2 restoration levy which will be shown as part of your total at checkout. The restoration levy goes towards the upkeep and improvement of Southbank Centre’s historic venues.
Booking fee: £3.50 (online), £4 (phone) per transaction.
Running time
2 hrs, including an interval
Recommended age
From 7+
Programme notes
Free printed programmes will be available at the venue. Digital programme notes will be available a week before the concert.
Box office
Philharmonia Box Office: 0800 652 6717
Monday to Friday 10am – 5pm
You may also like

Marin Alsop conducts Star Wars and The Planets

Nagano conducts Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony
2025/26 London Season
We’ve just announced our 80th birthday season at Royal Festival Hall.
