The Full Works Concert - Monday 8 July 2013: London Symphony Orchestra Week

All this week, the Full Works Concert celebrates our partnership with the London Symphony Orchestra – Classic FM’s Orchestra in the City of London.

All this week, Classic FM is celebrating its partnership with the London Symphony Orchestra - Classic FM's Orchestra in the City of London. Jane Jones presents five special Full Works Concerts which showcase the LSO's extraordinary discography, from historic recordings through to their work with current Music Director, Valery Gergiev.

Founded in 1904, the London Symphony Orchestra is the oldest of London's symphony orchestras. Throughout its history, it has been associated with some of the world's most acclaimed musicians - including, in its early days, Sir Edward Elgar. Elgar's Introduction and Allegro for Strings kicks off our week of LSO recordings. The work was written originally for the strings section of the fledgling London Symphony Orchestra, from an original suggestion by Elgar publisher, Jaeger - whom he immortalised as Nimrod in the Enigma Variations. The theme literally came to Elgar during a rather bracing walk along the Cardiganshire coast when he heard a distant choir. He had it stashed away for a possible ‘Welsh Rhapsody’ of some sort but, in the end, the Welsh piece never materialised, so he borrowed the tune for this work.

The late Sir Colin Davis conducts the LSO and Chorus in Mozart's Requiem, which was left unfinished when Mozart died. The piece had been commissioned by an eccentric count who routinely hired composers to write works and then passed them off as his own. He wanted a Requiem that he could claim he had written in memory of his recently deceased wife. Mozart received only half of the payment in advance, so upon his death, Mozart’s widow Constanze was keen to get the work completed and collect the final payment.

The great cellist Mstislav Rostropovich takes to the podium next to conduct the LSO in Beethoven's Romance No.2 in F major. The violinist is Maxim Vengerov. It's followed by Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings which was originally the second movement of the composer's String Quartet. It was performed for the first time in 1938 in a radio broadcast conducted by Arturo Toscanini who also took the piece on tour to Europe and South America.

The concert ends with Aaron Copland's jazz-infused Clarinet Concerto. It was written between 1947 and 1949, and later staged by West Side Story's choreographer Jerome Robbins for the 1951 ballet Pied Piper. Richard Stoltzman is tonight's clarinettist.

Edward Elgar: Introduction and Allegro for Strings
London Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Colin Davis 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Requiem
Soloists: Marie Arnet, Anna Stephany, Andrew Kennedy, Darren Jeffrey
London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus

Ludwig van Beethoven Romance No.2 in F major
Violin: Maxim Vengerov
London Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Mstislav Rostropovich

Samuel Barber Adagio for Strings
London Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Krystian Jarvi

Aaron Copland: Clarinet Concerto
Clarinet: Richard Stoltzman
London Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Lawrence Leighton-Smith