Jonathan Heyward conducts the London Symphony Orchestra and violinist Francesca Dego for the Apple Music exclusive: A New Dawn. The recording is available now in Spatial Audio and as a full-length concert film.
A New Dawn features three irresistible orchestral works by Lili Boulanger, Joseph Bologne (Chevalier de Saint-Georges), and Igor Stravinsky – showcasing the instrumentalists on scintillating form.
Despite a life marked by ill health, Lili Boulanger composed some 50 works. Her tone poem D’un matin du printemps was the final work in her orchestral oeuvre, written only weeks before her death at the age of 24, and is evocative of a shimmering spring morning. The centrepiece of the programme is the virtuosic Violin Concerto in A Major, Op. 5, from Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a polymath who was known for being a supremely accomplished composer, conductor and violinist. Francesca Dego performs the flamboyant score with flair, tackling the technical difficulties with ease, and embracing the beautiful lyricism is the Largo. Igor Stravinsky’s epic Firebird Suite closes the programme. The composer’s rich marriage of rhythm, melody and colour is given an effervescent rendition under the baton of Heyward.
Recorded in a festively lit Jerwood Hall at LSO St Luke’s, the flagship London orchestra will partner with Apple Music to release a unique performance each year for the next three years.
About the new partnership, Kathryn McDowell, Managing Director of the LSO says: “The LSO is delighted to share the first of a new series of dynamic performances, exclusively for Apple Music subscribers. We’re very happy to be working together on an artistic and technology-led programme that ensures our listeners around the world hear us with industry-leading sound quality, Spatial Audio, and with the added dimension of film.”
Jonathan Gruber, Global Head of Classical, Apple Music adds: “We are thrilled to present this performance from the wonderful London Symphony Orchestra, conductor Jonathon Heyward and violinist Francesca Dego. The music is suffused with joy and we can also feel a palpable sense of excitement, as we kick off what promises to be a fantastic multi-year collaboration with the LSO.”
Visit Apple Music to listen to A New Dawn
Photo credit: Laura Thiesbrummel
