Mahler's Fourth Symphony

The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra with Chief Conductor John Storgärds in music by Cassandra Miller, Mendelssohn and Mahler.

If Mahler's first three symphonies come from an adult's point of view, his Fourth wonders how a child's perspective might be different. Bright sleigh bells and Viennese Classical charm open the shortest of Mahler's symphonies, but the music shows a more sinister side as Death appears with his mistuned violin in the second movement. After an extended and reflective third movement, a "child's vision of heaven" is conjured. Soprano Sheva Tehoval makes her debut with the orchestra for this memorable music which hints at menace and nightmare as well as open-eyed trust and wonder.

Music by the BBC Philharmonic's Composer in Residence, Cassandra Miller, opens the concert. "This is a piece about Robert Schumann, imagining him going for a swim" she says; her inspiration taken from chords in his Rhenish Symphony melded with images from a poem about swimming in a cool lake by Anne Carson. It's dedicated to the composer's mother, "the lake swimmer".

Making a welcome return to the orchestra, Alina Ibragimova brings her virtuosic lyricism and charm to Mendelssohn's E minor Violin Concerto.

Recorded earlier this month at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, and presented by Linton Stephens.

Cassandra Miller: Swim
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor
Mahler: Symphony No 4

Alina Ibragimova (violin)
Sheva Tehoval (soprano)
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
John Storgärds (conductor)

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