Performance on 3 - Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra - Mozart, Mahler

Presented by Petroc Trelawny The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra performs two great works from composers at the height of their powers. Mozart could not have known that the three symphonies he composed in the summer of 1788 would be his last. Symphony No.40 is a work of storm and stress, a score whose overriding emotions range from the unsettling to the downright terrifying, perhaps a mirror of Mozart's inner demons. He takes an unusual voyage, but in the end his musical language still achieves a balance, order, and resolution with much innovation and harmonic tension en route. It has been written that Mahler did not want to name Das Lied a symphony since that would make it his ninth, and therefore possibly his last. Whether a symphony or song cycle, he clearly saw the work as a symphonic whole, and the songs themselves can be grouped into parts analogous to symphonic movements. The songs themselves speak of love of nature, wistful nostalgia of youth, defiance at death, and strength of friendship. Mozart : Symphony No.40 Mahler : Das Lied von der Erde Sarah Connolly (mezzo soprano) Paul Nilon (tenor) Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conductor Marin Alsop.