Questioning Everything – Strauss, Liszt and Kendall
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The Concert
Hannah Kendall O flower of fire (world premiere)
Franz Liszt Totentanz
Interval – 20 minutes
Richard Strauss Also sprach Zarathustra
Sir Antonio Pappano conductor
Alice Sara Ott piano
London Symphony Orchestra
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Available to watch on Marquee TV (subscription required)
Pop culture’s most famous fanfare sets the mood – this is music that tells you: wake up!
The Programme
A blast of trumpets, a pounding of timpani: the opening of Richard Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra heralds the rise of the sun. Stanley Kubrick used it to grab viewers’ attention in his film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
But for Strauss, this is the dawn of an age full of questions: what does it mean to be alive? Joining the debate, Liszt’s Totentanz is a ferocious vision of mortality, complete with ghoulish jangling bones. And there’s a new work by Hannah Kendall, a composer whose music, in Pappano’s own words, ‘has an amazing ability to really grip the listener’.
The Performers
In his first concert as Chief Conductor Designate of the LSO, Sir Antonio Pappano brings emotional depth to the music’s thrills and chills. Alice Sara Ott masters the breakneck glissandos of Liszt’s showpiece music for piano.
Hannah Kendall’s music has an amazing ability to really grip the listener, to draw the listener in. It’s percussive, it’s lyrical, it’s very atmospheric, with the use of really beautiful chords, and an amazing use of silence, which makes you really want to listen to her music.
– Sir Antonio Pappano
Commission for O flower of fire generously supported by The Boltini Trust
Header Image © Mark Allan
Dive Deeper
Sir Antonio Pappano, LSO Chief Conductor Designate, introduces this concert and Alice Sara Ott performs a short clip of Franz Liszt’s Totentanz.
Read: 'Creolised' sounds in O flower of fire
Hannah Kendall discusses unexpected instruments and the inspirations behind her new piece for the LSO.
Concerts with Pappano in 2023/24
Half Six Fix: Berlioz
Sir Antonio Pappano
Wednesday 21 May 2025 • 6.30pm
Kick-start your evening with a 60-minute Half Six Fix concert, delving into the musical imagination of Hector Berlioz. Introduced by the performers, with screens in the hall to bring you closer to the action.
Limited Tickets
Szymanowski and Symphonie fantastique
LSO Artist Portrait: Lisa Batiashvili
Thursday 22 May 2025 • 7pm
Dreams and fantasies from enigmatic Szymanowski, in his Violin Concerto, to Berlioz’s most rock’n’roll work, the Symphonie fantastique.
Mozart and Strauss Ein Heldenleben
LSO Artist Portrait: Lisa Batiashvili
Sunday 25 May 2025 • 7pm
Two portraits from a magician of orchestral colour, Richard Strauss – plus a young Mozart dances on the violin, in his Fifth Violin Concerto.
On Tour in Vienna
Sir Antonio Pappano and Lisa Batiashvili
Tuesday 27 May 2025 • 7.30pm
Music by Berlioz and Szymanowski on tour in Vienna, with Sir Antonio Pappano and Lisa Batiashvili.
On Tour in Vienna
Sir Antonio Pappano and Lisa Batiashvili
Wednesday 28 May 2025 • 7.30pm
Music by Mozart and Strauss on tour in Vienna, with Sir Antonio Pappano and Lisa Batiashvili.
On Tour in Prague
Sir Antonio Pappano and Lisa Batiashvili
Thursday 29 May 2025 • 8pm
Music by Berlioz, Szymanowski and Strauss on tour in Prague, with Sir Antonio Pappano and Lisa Batiashvili.
On Tour in Dresden
Sir Antonio Pappano and Lisa Batiashvili
Friday 30 May 2025 • 7.30pm
Music by Mozart and Berlioz, with Sir Antonio Pappano and Lisa Batiashvili.
On Tour in Cologne
Sir Antonio Pappano and Lisa Batiashvili
Sunday 1 June 2025 • 8pm
Music by Berlioz and Szymanowski on tour in Cologne, with Sir Antonio Pappano and Lisa Batiashvili.
