Both Gustav Mahler and Friedrich Ru虉ckert lost children. When Mahler came to set Ru虉ckert鈥檚 grief-stricken poems on the subject as his five Kindertotenlieder, he did so with music that appears emotionally stunned and radiantly consolatory. Leading international mezzo-soprano Alice Coote lends her glowing voice to these devastating songs, after Ryan Wigglesworth conducts his 大象传媒 Scottish Symphony Orchestra in a symphony by Brahms that is both menacing and mellifluous. At the heart of the programme is Schoenberg鈥檚 sumptuous tone-poem Verkla虉rte Nacht (鈥楾ransfigured Night鈥�), filled with crepuscular angst and decadent late-Romantic harmony.

Broadcast live on 大象传媒 Radio 3

Image: Alice Coote 漏 Jiyang Chen