Radio 3 in Concert: To the Memory of An Angel

Cancelled as a public concert at the Barbican due to government Covid restrictions, the LSO nevertheless recorded this programme earlier this month under Covid-safe conditions at LSO St Luke's. For the first of two great Viennese works, Simon Rattle and his orchestra are joined by one of the world's leading violinists, Leonidas Kavakos. He's the soloist in Alban Berg's 1935 Violin Concerto, famously dedicated `to the memory of an angel" - the death of Manon Gropius, the teenage daughter of Alma Mahler and Bauhaus architect Walter Gropius, was a profound blow to Berg. It's deeply-felt music that has become a cornerstone of the repertoire and Kavakos is one of its most celebrated interpreters. It takes a top-notch conductor and the utmost orchestral virtuosity to bring off the joyful energy and majestic sweep of Schubert's Ninth Symphony, so Rattle and the LSO make the perfect combination for an upbeat ending to an unmissable concert. Introduced by Martin Handley. Leonidas Kavakos (violin), London Symphony Orchestra, conductor Simon Rattle. Berg: Violin Concerto. Schubert: Symphony No 9, `The Great"