Rachmaninov: The Miserly Knight/ Wagner: Das Rheingold ***
LPO/Jurowski, 21st January 2015
Vladimir Jurowski
© Roman Gontcharov
Vladimir Jurowski is a wily programmer. The London Philharmonic’s season has been most interesting, their “Rachmaninoff Inside Out” series digging out rarities and putting them into context. In summer 1902, Rachmaninov extended his honeymoon to include a visit to Bayreuth, seeing The Ring, Parsifal and Der fliegende Holländer. The impact Wagner’s music made on him – particularly the use of leitmotifs – can be heard in Rachmaninov’s one act opera The Miserly Knight. Pairing a concert performance of the opera with extracts from Das Rheingold, therefore, seemed a shrewd move.
Read the full review on Bachtrack.