Mahler's 'Song of the Earth'

Live at the BBC Proms: BBC Philharmonic and Anja Bihlmaier are joined by Jamie Barton and Clay Hilley for Mahler's 'Das Lied von der Erde'.

Presented by Martin Handley live from the Royal Albert Hall, London

Bushra El-Turk: Mosaic
Joseph Haydn: Symphony No.45 in F sharp minor 'Farewell'

c7.40pm
Interval: Writer and Broadcaster Katy Hamilton talks to Martin Handley about Mahler's 'Song of the Earth', which is not only an epic work for tenor, alto and full symphony orchestra but also an intensely personal expression of mortality and the beauty of nature.

Gustav Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde

'How should I describe such a colossal crisis?' Mahler wrote in 1909. 'Yet I am thirstier than ever for life...'. Personal and professional loss had taken the composer to the brink, but even as he faced tragedy he experienced the pleasure of living with renewed intensity. It's this strange, urgent ecstasy that runs through 'Das Lied von der Erde' ('The Song of the Earth') - a collision of symphony and song, life and loss. This epic musical farewell meets the witty musical parting of Haydn's 'Farewell' Symphony, with its famous final movement of ever-shrinking forces. Bushra El-Turk's 'Mosaic' opens the concert with nods to 'Das Lied' in a meditation on identity, otherness and exoticism.

Jamie Barton (mezzo-soprano)
Clay Hilley (tenor)
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Anja Bihlmaier (conductor)