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For his first concert as the Philharmonia Orchestra's Principal Conductor, the young Finn Santtu-Matias Rouvali has chosen two of the most demanding works in the repertoire.

Richard Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra and An Alpine Symphony each thrillingly test an orchestra, at once collectively, its individual sections and its principal players.

You don't have to have read or understood Friedrich Nietzsche's obscure philosophical fiction to revel in Strauss's 'Thus spoke Zarathustra' which begins with a spectacular sunrise made famous by Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. And you don't have to have been walking and scrambling in the Alps to feel the thrills and spills of Strauss's day in the mountains, including a spectacular view from the summit, a sudden thunderstorm and, at the end, the deep and emotional satisfaction of having completed an arduous and exhausting journey. 'At last I have learnt to orchestrate,’ said Strauss of An Alpine Symphony — which is just as well since the score calls for over 100 musicians including 34 brass players (with 12 offstage horns) and a percussion section stocked with, among other things, wind machine, thunder machine and cowbells.

Live from the Royal Festival Hall, Andrew McGregor presents the second concert in Radio 3's Southbank Centre residency.

Richard Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra

8.15 pm
Interval
Andrew McGregor walks around the Southbank Centre's Art by Post exhibition with curator Persilia Caton, and interviews Santtu-Mathias Rouvali about his new role as the Philharmonia's Principal Conductor.

8.35 pm
Richard Strauss: An Alpine Symphony

Philharmonia Orchestra
Santtu-Matias Rouvali (conductor)