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Nature's Fury: Climate Concerto Premieres
1 Dec, 2025
Summary
- Turkish composer Fazil Say's 'Mother Earth' piano concerto had its UK premiere.
- The concerto aims to be a 'dramatic wakeup call' about the climate crisis.
- The concert also featured works by Sibelius and Dvorak.
The Philharmonia's 80th-anniversary season culminated in a concert featuring a UK premiere and two Romantic masterpieces. The highlight was Fazil Say's "Mother Earth," a seven-movement piano concerto conceived as a "dramatic wakeup call" concerning the climate crisis. The work utilizes innovative percussion and instrumental techniques to depict natural forces.
Say's composition explores themes of Earth, Forest, Sea, and River, employing thunderous percussion for seismic events and handheld devices for birdcalls. The piano part, performed by Say, ranged from bluesy to virtuosic, with particularly intriguing passages requiring the soloist to manipulate the piano's strings internally.
The concert also showcased Sibelius's "En Saga," a richly evocative tone poem, and Dvorak's optimistic Eighth Symphony. Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali led the orchestra through these diverse works, delivering a performance that was both powerful and nuanced, balancing dramatic intensity with elegant phrasing.
