Wimbledon International Music Festival: Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations

Programme

The Philharmonia’s Principal Bassoon, Robin O’Neill, swaps his orchestra seat for the podium as he conducts a programme of Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and Beethoven at the Wimbledon International Music Festival.

Prokofiev’s ’Classical’ symphony is a fascinating work that meshes traditional clarity and formality with his renegade spirit, and humorous approach. “It is what Haydn might have written had he lived another hundred years”, he said.

A huge admirer of Mozart, Tchaikovsky’s glorious Rococo Variations are full of subtle homages to the Classical composer. The theme itself is an original invention by Tchaikovsky himself rather than borrowing it from the past. Grammy Award-winning cellist, Zuill Bailey, joins as soloist,

Beethoven considered his Seventh Symphony to be one of his best works, having broken away from Classical restraints for the freedom and power of the Romantic imagination that he was so influential in developing. The Symphony is built on dance rhythms and is often referred to be the “apotheosis of the dance.”