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Roderick Williams performs Mahler's Kindertotenlieder with the Halle Orchestra conducted by Sir Mark Elder at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall.

Roderick Williams performs Mahler's Kindertotenlieder with the Hall茅 Orchestra conducted by Sir Mark Elder at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall

Rachmaninov: Isle of the Dead
Mahler: Kindertotenlieder
Shostakovich: Symphony No.15

This concert opens with Rachmaninov's Isle of the Dead, his great, mystical tone poem depicting Charon, the ferryman of Greek mythology.

The composition of Mahler's Kindertotenlieder coincided with that of his Sixth Symphony, a work Sir Mark conducted here in October. Featuring tonight, the renowned Roderick Williams, these gentle and intimate songs express sorrow, tenderness, wistfulness and finally, resignation to fate.

Shostakovich likened the first movement of his fifteenth and last symphony to a 'toy shop'. Laden with quotations from his own works, it also includes most famously a bizarre reference to the galop from Rossini's William Tell Overture. As with other works from the last years of his life the music treads a fine line between vitality and disillusion.

Followed by a glimpse into Adopt a Composer - Making Music's scheme pairing composers with performing groups from around the country.
Tonight the Jubilate Ladies Choir works on Ailie Robertson's song-cycle on the theme of womanhood.

2 hours, 30 minutes

Music Played

  • Sergey Rachmaninov

    The Isle of the Dead Op.29

    Orchestra: Hall茅. Conductor: Sir Mark Elder.
  • Gustav Mahler

    Kindertotenlieder

    Orchestra: Hall茅. Conductor: Sir Mark Elder. Singer: Roderick Williams.
  • Franz Liszt

    Totentanz S.525

    Performer: Markus Groh.
    • AVIE AV2097.
    • AVIE.
    • 3.
  • Eug猫ne Ysa每e

    Sonata No. 2 in A minor, Op.27 No. 2

    Performer: Alina Ibragimova.
    • Hyperion CDA67993.
    • Hyperion.
    • 8.
  • Dmitry Shostakovich

    Symphony No. 15 in A major, Op.141

    Orchestra: Hall茅. Conductor: Sir Mark Elder.
  • Ruggero Leoncavallo

    Valse mignonne

    Performer: Lang Lang.
    • Leoncavallo - La Nuit de mai: Various.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 19.

Broadcast

  • Mon 15 Feb 2016 19:30