Rachmaninoff: The Bells - Elgar: Falstaff Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Chorus & Vasily Petrenko

• Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943): The Bells, Op. 35:
• 1 Rachmaninoff: The Bells, Op. 35: I. The Silver Sleigh Bells. Allegro ma non tanto 06:27
• 2 Rachmaninoff: The Bells, Op. 35: II. The Mellow Wedding Bells. Lento 10:19
• 3 Rachmaninoff: The Bells, Op. 35: III. The Loud Alarm Bells. Presto 08:30
• 4 Rachmaninoff: The Bells, Op. 35: IV. The Mournful Iron Bells. Lento lugubre 10:28
• Edward Elgar (1857 - 1934): Falstaff, Op. 68:
• 5 Elgar: Falstaff, Op. 68: I. Falstaff and Prince Henry. Allegro 03:05
• 6 Elgar: Falstaff, Op. 68: IIa. Eastcheap. Allegro molto 03:02
• 7 Elgar: Falstaff, Op. 68: IIb. Gadshill - The Boar's Head. Allegro molto 09:20
• 8 Elgar: Falstaff, Op. 68: IIc. Revelry and Sleep. Molto tranquillo 01:09
• 9 Elgar: Falstaff, Op. 68: IId. Dream Interlude. Poco allegretto 02:39
• 10 Elgar: Falstaff, Op. 68: IIIa. Falstaff's March. Allegro 02:58
• 11 Elgar: Falstaff, Op. 68: IIIb. The Return Through Gloucestershire. Poco sostenuto 01:37
• 12 Elgar: Falstaff, Op. 68: IIIc. Interlude. Gloucestershire, Shallow's Orchard. Allegretto 01:43
• 13 Elgar: Falstaff, Op. 68: IIId. The New King. Allegro molto - The hurried ride to London 01:04
• 14 Elgar: Falstaff, Op. 68: IVa. King Henry V's Progress. Più moderato 03:30
• 15 Elgar: Falstaff, Op. 68: IVb. The Repudiation of Falstaff, and his death. Poco più lento 06:38
• Total Runtime 01:12:29

Info for Rachmaninoff: The Bells - Elgar: Falstaff

To inaugurate their collaboration with harmonia mundi, Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra have recorded a programme as subtle as it is unexpected, with two seldom-heard masterpieces of 1913. From the bitingly ironic Shakespearian portrait of an ageing knight (Falstaff), to an existential meditation inspired by Poe (The Bells), both these ‘literary’ scores dramatically prolong the enchantments of a dying romanticism.

Mirjam Mesak, Sopran
Pavel Petrov, Tenor
Andrii Kymach, Bariton
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Vasily Petrenko, Dirigent

Mirjam Mesak
is currently a member of the prestigious ensemble of the Bayerische Staatsoper, where she has left a lasting impression in roles from Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta to Puccini’s Musetta. In particular, Mesak was praised for her “outstanding voice” (Crescendo) as the leading role in Axel Ranisch’s film Orphea in Love which premiered at the Bavarian State Opera in 2022 and was released in cinemas across Germany.

The 2025/26 season marks several exciting role debuts for Mesak at the Bayerische Staatsoper. She adds to her repertoire the role of Adele in Barrie Kosky’s production of Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, as well as the role of Marzelline in Beethoven’s Fidelio. She also creates one of the Female Courtier roles in the world premiere of Brett Dean’s new opera Of One Blood, staged by Claus Guth and conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. Other roles in Munich include Blumenmädchen in Wagner’s Parsifal and Ännchen in von Weber’s Der Freischütz. Mesak also returns to the role of Mimi in Puccini’s La Bohème at Theater Vanemuine in Estonia. On the concert platform she joins the Orchestre National Rhône d’Auvergne and conductor Thomas Zehetmair for a performance at the Philharmonie Berlin and performs Rachmaninoff’s The Bells with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Vasily Petrenko.

Last season, Mesak made her house debut at the Semperoper Dresden as Ännchen in Der Freischütz. She also made her role debut as Mimi at the Theatre Vanemuine in Estonia. Other roles in Munich included Freia in a new production of Wagner’s Das Rheingold, Gretel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, Juliette in Korngold’s Die tote Stadt, and 1st Sprite in Dvořák’s Rusalka. Concert performances included Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski, and with the Flanders Symphony Orchestra with conductor Kristiina Poska, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Oldenburg State Orchestra conducted by Hendrik Vestmann, and a Summer Gala concert with the Prague Philharmonia and Rastislav Štúr.

In Estonia, Mesak appears regularly with the Estonian National Opera, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, and Vanemuine Symphony Orchestra. In recent seasons, she has appeared as a soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No.2 with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra under Neeme Järvi and in Berg’s Sieben Frühe Lieder with the Estonian Festival Orchestra under Paavo Järvi. In 2023, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Estonian composer Rudolf Tobias, Mesak recorded Tobias’s Oratorio Joonas with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and conductor Tõnu Kaljuste, released by Ondine Records in November 2025. In the same month, Harmonia Mundi releases a recording of Mesak’s 2024 performance of Rachmaninov’s The Bells at London’s Royal Festival Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Vassily Petrenko.

Mesak is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama where she studied under Prof. Rudolf Piernay. She has performed as a soloist in several of London’s renowned concert halls including the Barbican, Milton Court Concert Hall (as part of the London Symphony Orchestra’s ‘This is Rattle’ festival), Wigmore Hall and Royal Festival Hall.

In 2019 Mesak was awarded the Bavarian Art Prize in the Performing Arts category (Bayerische Kunstförderpreis in Der Sparte Darstellende Kunst) and in 2024 she was the recipient of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia’s Annual Award.

Pavel Petrov
was born in Belarus. In 2018 he won First Prize as well as the Don Placido Domingo Zarzuela Prize at the Placido Domingo Operalia Competition. He was also a finalist in the Belvedere and Queen Sonja Singing Competitions.

In 2016, after a period spent at the Zurich Opera Studio and the Belarusian State Academy of Music, he joined the troupe of the Graz Opera. Whilst there, he performed numerous roles, including Alfredo (La Traviata), Lensky (Eugene Onegin), Belfiore (Il viaggio a Reims), Prunier (La Rondine), Rodolfo (La Bohème), and Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni).

He made debuts at London’s Royal Opera House in Turandot (Pong), the Verona Arena in La Traviata (Alfredo) and the Salzburg Festival in The Queen of Spades (Chaplitsky). He also sang the roles of Alfredo and Lensky at the Bucharest Opera and Ferrando (Così fan tutte) in Melbourne.

More recently, he made his debut at the Vienna Staatsoper in L’elisir d’amore (Nemorino) and sang the roles of Lensky at the Stadttheater in Klagenfurt, the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, and the Lausanne Opera house; the Duke of Mantua (Rigoletto) in Hong Kong and Bregenz; Rodolfo, Peppe and Alfredo in Minsk; Don Ottavio in Graz and at the Paris Opera; Tamino in Chicago and at the Vienna Staatsoper.

Andrii Kymach
Current and upcoming engagements include Schelkalov Boris Godunov at The Royal Ballet and Opera (Covent Garden), Ford Falstaff at Staatsoper Hamburg, title role Eugene Onegin at Norwegian National Opera, Escamillo Carmen and Germont La traviata with Opera Australia, and Rachmaninoff’s The Bells with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under Vasily Petrenko.

Recent highlights include Ford Falstaff and Sir Riccardo Forth I puritani at Opéra national de Paris, Escamillo Carmen with the Polish National Opera, the title role in Eugene Onegin and Alfio Cavalleria rusticana with the Canadian Opera Company. He made debuts as Count Tomsky The Queen of Spades at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía and Escamillo Carmen at The Royal Ballet and Opera (Covent Garden), the High Priest of Dagon Samson et Dalila at Ópera de Tenerife, Robert Iolanta in concert with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Giorgio Germont La traviata at Houston Grand Opera, Sir Riccardo Forth I puritani at Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, and the title role in Don Giovanni with Opera Australia. Other engagements include Escamillo Carmen at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Count Tomsky The Queen of Spades at the Grange Festival, Lord Enrico Ashton Lucia di Lammermoor at Ópera de Tenerife, the title role in Don Giovanni at Opéra de Nice, and a concert performance of the title role in Rubinstein’s The Demon at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. Concert work has featured Rachmaninoff’s The Bells with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, a recital for Oxford Lieder, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra under Keri-Lynn Wilson in London, Washington, Paris, Warsaw and Gdańsk.

Andrii Kymach is the First Prize winner of BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2019. He graduated from the Bolshoi Theatre Moscow Young Artist Program in 2018, where he made his role debuts as Don Carlos The Stone Guest and the Venetian Guest Sadko at the Bolshoi Theatre Moscow.

Vasily Petrenko
is Music Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, a position he took on in 2021, becoming Conductor Laureate of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra following his hugely acclaimed fifteen-year tenure as their Chief Conductor from 2006-2021. He is the Associate Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, and has also served as Chief Conductor of the European Union Youth Orchestra (2015-2024), Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra (2013-2020) and Principal Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (2009–2013). He stood down as Artistic Director of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia ‘Evgeny Svetlanov’ in 2022 having been their Principal Guest Conductor from 2016 and Artistic Director from 2020.

Petrenko has worked with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome), St Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Czech Philharmonic and NHK Symphony Orchestras, and in North America has lead the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, and the San Francisco, Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras. He has appeared at the Edinburgh Festival, Grafenegg Festival and made frequent appearances at the BBC Proms. Equally at home in the opera house, and with over thirty operas in his repertoire, Vasily Petrenko has conducted widely on the operatic stage, including at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, the Opéra National de Paris, Opernhaus Zürich, the Bayerische Staatsoper, and the Metropolitan Opera, New York.

Recent highlights have included wide-ranging touring with the Royal Philharmonic, across major European capitals, the US and China. The 23/24 season included a debut appearance with the NDR-Elphilharmonie in Hamburg and returns to Hong Kong, Seoul, Israel and Dresden Philharmonics, the Dallas and Pittsburgh Symphonies and the Filarmonica della Scala in Milan and Dresden Symphony Orchestras. Highlights of the 24/25 season include his debut with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in a new production of Boris Godunov at the Dutch National Opera, returns to the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Sydney, Montreal, Singapore, Berlin Radio and Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestras, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington DC, and touring to Germany and major European summer festivals with the Royal Philharmonic.

Vasily Petrenko has established a strongly defined profile as a recording artist. Amongst a wide discography, his Shostakovich, Rachmaninov and Elgar symphony cycles with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra have garnered worldwide acclaim. With the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, he has released cycles of Scriabin’s symphonies and Strauss’ tone poems, and an ongoing series of the symphonies of Prokofiev and Myaskovsky.

Born in 1976, Petrenko was educated at the St Petersburg Capella Boys Music School – Russia’s oldest music school – and the St Petersburg Conservatoire where he participated in masterclasses with such luminary figures as Ilya Musin, Mariss Jansons and Yuri Temirkanov, and began his career as Resident Conductor (1994–1997)of St Petersburg’s Mikhailovsky Theatre. In September 2017, Vasily Petrenko was honoured with the Artist of the Year award at the prestigious annual Gramophone Awards, one decade on from receiving their Young Artist of the Year award in October 2007. In 2010, he won the Male Artist of the Year at the Classical BRIT Awards and is only the second person to have been awarded Honorary Doctorates by both the University of Liverpool and Liverpool Hope University (in 2009), and an Honorary Fellowship of the Liverpool John Moores University (in 2012), awards which recognise the immense impact he has had on the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the city’s cultural scene. In 2024, Vasily also launched a new academy for young conductors, co-organized by the Primavera Foundation Armenia and the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra.

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