Performance on 3 - SCO/Knussen

Presented by Martin Handley. Olver Knussen conducts the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in a work of his own, as well as Mahler and Peter Maxwell Davies - as part of a celebration of the British composer's 75th birthday. The concert opens with Knussen's own miniatures, based on two Tudor puzzle canons, with his own variations superimposed. Following this, young Dutch mezzo-soprano Helena Rasker sings Mahler's touching and lyrical songs on the poems of Ruckert, which inspired him to write some of his most profound music. To conclude, there is a performance of Peter Maxwell Davies' Fourth Symphony. The SCO have enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with the composer, and they gave the first performance of this symphony at the BBC Proms in 1989. Oliver Knussen was in the audience for the premiere, and he has long since regarded it as a masterpiece. Helena Rasker (mezzo-soprano) Scottish Chamber Orchestra Oliver Knussen (conductor) Knussen: Music for a puppet court Mahler: Ruckert-Lieder Maxwell Davies: Symphony No 4 Followed by highlights from the final of The Voice of Black Opera, a new vocal competition for professional black and Asian singers, held at the Great Hall of the University of Birmingham. Peter Brathwaite - winner of the Samuel Coleridge Taylor award Mozart: Der Vogelfangerbin bin ich ja from The Magic Flute Britten: Within this frail crucible of light from The Rape of Lucretia Spiritual: Steal Away Elizabeth Llewellyn: Winner of the Voice of Black Opera 2009 Puccini: Si, mi chiamano Mimi from La Boheme Spritual: Ride on, King Jesus Both singers were accompanied by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia conducted by James Lowe, and by Nigel Foster at the piano. Followed by music from orchestras of the former East Germany, as we lead up to Monday's special concert, live from Berlin on Performance on 3 to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall. Strauss: Rosenkavalier waltzes Dresden Staatskapelle Rupert Kempe (conductor) EMI 3458262 Dvorak: Slavonic Dances Op. 46 No 6 & 8 Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra Kurt Masur (conductor) PHILIPS 416 623-2