Myth and Magic – Thomas Adès | London Symphony Orchestra

Threads of the past are woven into a radiant future in four ingenious compositions, presented by Thomas Adès, Anne-Sophie Mutter and the LSO.

Stravinsky didn’t attend the premiere of Agon on his 75th birthday, worried that audiences wouldn’t like his new direction. But the ballet was greeted with shouts and whistles, its bracing music compared to Champagne. It’s a cool and considered triumph which melds together ingredients from Baroque to jazz.

Lutoslawski’s delicate Partita and Adès’ arching Air convert age-old structures into intriguingly unfamiliar objets d’art.

Like Agon, Orpheus was a balletic collaboration between Stravinsky and choreographer George Balanchine. Orpheus’s traditional lyre becomes a harp in Stravinsky’s elegant, ritualistic music.

His music shapes the sound of the present moment, and Thomas Adès presents a much-anticipated UK premiere in this concert. Air was co-commissioned by violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, for whom Lutoslawski’s Partita was also written.