Prom 63 (part 2): Mahler and John Adams

Live from the Royal Albert Hall, London

Presented by Ian Skelly

Marin Alsop returns to the BBC Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Music by John Adams - the UK premiere of his Saxophone Concerto - and Mahler, his colourful First Symphony.

John Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine
John Adams: Saxophone Concerto (UK Premiere)

8:16pm Interval

8:36pm
Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D major

Timothy McAllister (Alto Saxophone)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop (Conductor)

Marin Alsop makes a welcome return following her triumph at last year's Last Night, to conduct the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Mahler's First Symphony. Originally designated a 'symphonic poem', the work retains all the programmatic colour this suggests. A young hero travels through life, marvelling at nature and growing to maturity, but encountering the sorrows and conflicts of Fate at every turn.

Mahler's long-limbed lyricism meets its match in the muscular drive of John Adams's Saxophone Concerto, written for virtuoso soloist Timothy McAllister, and his iconic orchestral miniature Short Ride in a Fast Machine, which pulses with anarchic life.