Boccherini - Symphony Op. 12, No. 4 in d minor, “La casa del diavolo”
La Casa del Diavolo — The Devil’s House — beckons us to step across the threshold of shadow and wonder. Composed around 1771, Boccherini’s Symphony No. 4 casts aside the courtly elegance of his age and instead dares to explore darker, more haunted realms. The music opens like a creaking door: a hush of foreboding, a chill in the air. Strings whisper and tremble, summoning ghostly figures who dance not in grace, but in frenzy. The Allegro erupts — a vivid, furious swirl, as if the devils themselves have thrown open their infernal ballroom. Flickering between terror and delirium, the notes chase each other down endless corridors of gloom. Then, in a moment almost tender, the music pauses — a slow breath, a brief glimpse of sorrow or regret — before plunging once more into a tarantella of madness, a danse macabre drawn from the same dark waters that would later inspire Berlioz and Liszt. "La casa del diavolo" is not merely a house of horrors; it is a vivid dreamscape where elegance and evil intertwine. Boccherini, with a sly smile, reminds us: even in the deepest shadows, there is beauty — and even the devil loves to dance.
Haydn - Cello Concerto No. 2 in D major
With a bright smile and an open heart, Franz Joseph Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 2 in D major steps into the light — a work of radiant elegance, effortless invention, and joyful conversation between soloist and orchestra. Composed in the early 1780s, likely for the gifted cellist Antonín Kraft of Prince Esterházy’s orchestra, this concerto reflects Haydn at the height of his creative powers: a master architect who could weave wit, tenderness, and virtuosity into a single shimmering tapestry.Haydn’s Second Cello Concerto is a celebration of life’s graceful delights a conversation of equals, a serenade to joy, a reminder that true virtuosity always sings before it dazzles.
William Suh, cello (Winner of the 2025 LCO Young Artist Competition)
Cellist William Suh has been acclaimed for his engaging musicianship, dynamically colored playing and artistic sincerity. A recipient of the Aldo Parisot Prize & Broadus Erle Prize at the Yale School of Music, Suh was awarded first prizes at the National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artists Competition, the 57th Serge & Olga Koussevitzky Young Artist Awards by the Musicians Club of New York, the 50th Hudson Valley Philharmonic String Competition, the Aspen Music Festival Concerto Competition, New England Conservatory Concerto Competition and the Music Teachers National Association String Competition (Continue reading here).
Mozart - Symphony No. 40 in g minor, K. 550
Few works in Mozart’s catalogue burn with the same inner fire as his Symphony No. 40 in G minor. Composed in the summer of 1788 — during a period of personal struggle and financial uncertainty — this symphony speaks in a voice of restless urgency, unclouded by the outward brilliance so often associated with his music. Written in the rare and emotionally charged key of G minor, Mozart’s 40th Symphony stands as one of his most profound and timeless creations: a mirror to the soul, reflecting beauty, sorrow, defiance, and the unquenchable vitality of the human spirit.