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The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sakari Oramo in Dorothy Howell's Keats-inspired Lamia and, with soprano Anu Komsi, Weill's Der neue Orpheus. Plus Mahler's Symphony No 4.

Live from the Barbican, London. Presented by Ian Skelly.

Dorothy Howell: Lamia
Kurt Weill: Der neue Orpheus, Op. 15

Interval

Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 4 in G major

Anu Komsi (soprano)
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo (conductor)

A jingle of sleighbells, a flurry of flutes…it doesn’t take much to set Mahler’s Fourth Symphony in motion. But with Mahler, even the gentlest sounds can create a universe. From playful opening to final, blissful vision of heaven, the Fourth is a musical fairy tale like no other – an enchanting finish to a concert that begins with Dorothy Howell’s fantasy of a shape-shifting serpent and Kurt Weill’s typically feisty retelling of the myth of Orpheus.

There’s nothing quite like that, either - part song, part violin concerto, but all Weill. The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Symphony Orchestra is lucky enough to have its own magical shape-shifter. Principal conductor Sakari Oramo is also a superb violinist and tonight he stars alongside soprano Anu Komsi at the centre of a concert where wonder comes as standard and nothing (except the music) is quite what it seems.