Performance on 3 - 20/10/2008

Suzy Klein introduces a performance given by the London Symphony Orchestra featuring music by Boulez, Messiaen and Bruckner. Including Boulez's Livre pour cordes, which the composer based on one of his early works for string quartet, and revised it into an intimate, rhythmically complex piece for string orchestra. Soprano Sally Matthews joins the orchestra in one of the most voluptuous song cycles in French music: Mi was Messiaen's nickname for his wife and Poemes pour Mi is a musical love letter, a lyrical song cycle celebrating marriage. Bruckner himself described his Fourth Symphony as 'Romantic'. Much revised before finding enduring success in 1881, it evokes a richly harmonic fairytale landscape of castles and woodlands. Sally Matthews (soprano) London Symphony Orchestra Daniel Harding (conductor) Boulez: Livre pour cordes Messiaen: Poemes pour Mi Bruckner: Symphony No 4 (Romantic) Followed by Play to the Nation, Radio 3's celebration of amateur orchestras across the UK: Sibelius: Andante Festivo Nonesuch Orchestra ...and Pianothon, showcasing amateur pianists from across the nation: Liszt: "Sposalizio" from Annee de Pelerinage, deuxieme annee (Italy) Zizhou Zhang