Russian Romantics presented by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra tickets

Something is coming.

Horns and bassoons sound a foreboding fanfare.

It is fate.

That’s how Tchaikovsky himself described the opening theme of his Fourth Symphony, as “a fateful force which prevents the impulse to happiness from attaining its goal”. The ominous beginning gives way to bittersweetness, but fate returns again and again, only acquiescing to a sunnier disposition in the finale.

Despite the Fourth being composed during a tumultuous personal time, Tchaikovsky was determined to find a sense of contentment. “Take happiness from the joys of others. Life is bearable after all,” he said. Indeed!

French conductor Chloé van Soeterstède has mesmerised audiences in Melbourne and the world over with her ability to make music come alive through her distinctive, graceful gestures. She returns to the MSO after a hugely successful debut in 2023.

She is joined by Dutch virtuoso Simone Lamsma to perform Glazunov’s Violin Concerto, an impassioned, radiant work that feels distinctly rich and romantic. Its three principal sections are played as one continuous movement, making the piece feel more rhapsodic than concerto.

At the St Petersburg Conservatory, a teenage Glazunov was taught by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, whose glittering overture to the 1899 opera The Tsar’s Bride opens this program, along with a brand new work by Cybec Young Composer in Residence Lucy Blomfield.