BBC Symphony Orchestra

The doyenne of French composers, Betsy Jolas, brings one of her latest works to London, presented alongside music by Lili Boulanger and Gustav Mahler.

Live from the Barbican.
Presenter: Ian Skelly

Boulanger: D'un matin de printemps; D'un soir triste
Betsy Jolas: Histoires vraies (UK premiere)
2015 INTERVAL
2035 Mahler: Symphony No. 4

Håkan Hardenberger (trumpet)
Roger Muraro (piano)
Susanna Hurrell (soprano)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
John Storgårds (conductor)

The BBC Symphony Orchestra is conducted by John Storgårds in Mahler's sunny Fourth Symphony and works by French composers Lili Boulanger and Betsy Jolas - her double concerto, featuring trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger and pianist Roger Muraro.

Betsy Jolas, born in 1926 and therefore a contemporary of Pierre Boulez, is one of French music's greats and this concert features her work for piano, trumpet and orchestra, Histoires vraies from 2015, written for the Festival Printemps des Arts in Monte-Carlo. The piece's 'stories' aim to work with the 'sounds we try not to hear' and also bring together two players whose musical paths rarely cross: Håkan Hardenberger and Roger Muraro, one of France's finest modernist pianists, who makes a rare UK appearance. Lili Boulanger, who died aged 24, gives us her atmospheric orchestral diptych juxtaposing morning and evening and Gustav Mahler's folk-infused Fourth Symphony literally bursts into song to close the programme.