After a high-pressure week of meetings, management and making connections, the best way to decompress is to plug in your headphones and allow a superb selection of tunes to take your brain far away from world of work. Enter the all-new Walpole Weekend Wind-Down: a monthly playlist of tracks curated by one of our Walpole members that will help you transition into a weekend headspace.
Our May playlist has been curated by Graham Wood, the London Philharmonic Orchestra Concerts and Recordings Manager. Founded in 1932 by conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent , the LPO is one of only five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It has been the resident orchestra of the Royal Festival Hall on the south bank of the Thames since 1993 and has been closely connected to the world of film and television since its earliest days, playing on numerous film soundtracks, including Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–03).
"This playlist captures some highlights of this leading orchestra’s extensive catalogue, including pieces by Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich, as well as scores from films and video games," says Wood. "Incorporating a range of musical styles, this playlist offers a welcoming touch to all, to lift your mood.
"Honegger’s 'Pastorale d’été' is the perfect evocation of a summer’s day, you can just imagine a heat haze over a flower meadow, and perhaps a cooling river running nearby; the slightly more animated section could be some children playing a game of tag before deciding it’s too hot!
"The 'Adagietto' from Mahler’s 5th Symphony will, for many, forever be linked to Visconti’s stunning film Death in Venice. Although the story of the film is tragic, it reminds me of this most beautiful city, which will be my first visit abroad in a month’s time.
"Dvorak’s 'New World Largo' features one of the most famous cor anglais (English Horn) solos, and it reminds me of visiting the house in Iowa where he composed it. It’s now a rather unusual clock museum. Some decades after Dvorak’s visit, two farming brothers spent their winter evenings carving ever more intricate clocks, and left them to the town to be enjoyed by future generations!"
This playlist also includes recordings of works that will feature in the LPO’s 90th Anniversary 2022/2023 Season, ‘A Place to Call Home’, which celebrates creativity and reflects on themes of belonging and exile.
The LPO’S 2022/2023 Concert Season is currently on sale. Download the full season brochure.
lpo.org.uk
