Performance on 3 - Northern Sinfonia - Schreker, Elgar, Strauss

Presented by Petroc Trelawny Sir Mark Elder conducts Northern Sinfonia for the first time in a programme of works composed around and during the First World War, within the space of five years. The profound and wistful Cello Concerto, played by one of the great British cellists, Steven Isserlis, was the last major work that Elgar wrote. 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme' was composed by Strauss as incidental music for Molière's play of the same name, originally with the ambitious idea of staging it together with the opera Ariadne auf Naxos in the same evening. Strauss included some arrangements of the music of Lully within it. Schreker was one of Vienna's most important composers in the same period, and in this luscious chamber symphony he makes full use of the mere 23 instruments involved. Schreker: Chamber Symphony Elgar: Cello Concerto Strauss: 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme' Suite Steven Isserlis (cello) Northern Sinfonia conductor Mark Elder Followed by the launch of the 2011 Proms Inspire Young Composers Competition. Petroc talks to previous winners about the competition.