BBC SSO - Simpson, MacMillan, Rachmaninov

Live from City Halls, Glasgow

Presented by Jamie MacDougall

Andrew Litton, the charismatic American conductor, brings his musical passion to Rachmaninov's Second Symphony. This hour-long symphony, written while Rachmaninov was living in Dresden, away from his homeland, is full of the lyricism and melodic turns of phrase familiar from the piano concertos.

The first half of the concert showcases two British composers of different generations. A former BBC Young Musician of the Year, Mark Simpson is the Liverpool-born clarinettist and composer whose new BBC commission takes its title from a poem by Edgar Allan Poe. And James MacMillan is the preeminent Scottish composer whose cycle of three piano concertos is being explored by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Peter Donohoe. Tonight's concert features his ballet-inspired Second Piano Concerto which melds traditional Scottish folk-music with dazzling piano virtuosity.

Mark SIMPSON Israfel (BBC Commission, World Premiere)
James MacMILLAN Piano Concerto No 2

8.20 Interval Music

8.40
RACHMANINOV Symphony No 2 in E minor

Peter Donohoe (piano)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Andrew Litton (conductor)

Post-concert music: It's All About the Piano! -Hands of Tomorrow - a Franco-British soirée, recorded at the French Institute in London last Saturday. Over the course of this week sample four top young pianists from the Paris Conservatoire and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in music including D. Scarlatti, Brahms, Debussy, Boulez, Messiaen and Liszt:

Marina Koka (piano) Guildhall School
Justine Leroux (piano) Paris Conservatoire
Sophia Dee (piano) Guildhall School
Tanguy de Williencourt (piano) Paris Conservatoire.