Afternoon on 3 - 12/09/2008

Presented by Louise Fryer. BBC Proms 2008 A Prom in which the natural world and beyond is explored by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under conductor Martyn Brabbins. With Vaughan Williams's Sinfonia Antartica in which off-stage female voices conjure the vast uninhabited wastes of the South Pole. Notions of clouds, nebulae and dust galaxies built from rhythmic atoms inspire Xenakis's challenging work Pleiades, which reflects on his experience in the Second World War and is performed by two ensembles of young percussion virtuosi. The concert concludes with Holst's The Planets in Holst's, again featuring more ethereal off-stage women's voices in the final movement, Neptune. Introduced by Sara Mohr-Pietsch. Elizabeth Watts (soprano) 4-Mality O Duo Holst Singers (women's voices) BBC Symphony Orchestra Martyn Brabbins (conductor) Vaughan Williams: Sinfonia antartica (Symphony No 7) Xenakis: Pleiades Holst: The Planets.