The latest in the series of Proms cello concertos is a powerful new work from Charlotte Bray, an expression of 鈥榤oral outrage鈥� at the destruction of the ancient city of Palmyra, Syria, last summer, after which 鈥榚verything changed鈥� in the composer鈥檚 compositional outlook.

Similarly, something changed in Mahler when he came to write his Fifth Symphony. Not only had he survived a haemorrhage that had nearly killed him, but he had also met and fallen in love with Alma Schindler, for whom the Fifth Symphony鈥檚 ardent Adagietto is a love song. Before that, Haydn鈥檚 Symphony No. 34 makes its first appearance at the Proms.