Sir Simon Rattle conducts the LSO: Schumann, Das Paradies, Barbican

Our country has produced few musicians as talented as Sir Simon Rattle projects he touches tend to turn to gold, and his forthcoming performance of Schumann’s oratorio Das Paradies und die Peri with the London Symphony Orchestra promises to be no exception. 

Like Rattle, German composer Robert Schumann was a star in his times.  Starting as a pianist, he turned his attention to composing after injuring his hand, only to become a beacon of the Great Romantic tradition. His oratorio, Das Paradies, combining orchestra with solo singers and chorus, was written towards the end of his life in 1843.  It focuses on the character Peri, who tries to regain entrance to heaven after his expulsion from it.  

Like all oratorios, music, rather than drama is at the fore. The singers are all of the highest pedigree, as you’d expect in Rattle’s company.  It’s testament to the event that soprano Kate Royal, and tenor Andrew Staples – normally star attractions in their own right, are among those less well-known. Sally Matthews, one of the finest sopranos singing today, takes the lead, while 

The prospect of seeing the UK’s greatest orchestra under the baton of its greatest conductor should lure you to the box office, even if the music’s unfamiliar. A concert like this would sell out at £200 a ticket on the continent. There’s no excuse!