Benjamin Britten: 4 Chansons francaises for soprano & orchestra
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No.21 in C, K.467
Interval
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.4

Ashkenazy returns with pianist Tamara Stefanovich in Mozart's Concerto No.21 and soprano Elizabeth Watts in Britten's Quatre Chansons Francaises, before ending the concert with Mahler's Symphony No.4.

Richard Strauss was so in awe of Mahler's Fourth Symphony - especially the passage towards the end of the radiant slow movement when the gates of Heaven open in a resplendent E major - that in homage he sent him a huge parcel containing his complete published works. Mahler broke with all convention by ending this most heart-warming of all his symphonies with a song of child-like innocence in praise of heavenly life.

That same tantalising simplicity informs the magical slow movement of Mozart's K.467 Piano Concerto and Britten's early Quatre chansons françaises, composed shortly before his 15th birthday.

Performers

Philharmonia Orchestra
Vladimir Ashkenazy conductor
Tamara Stefanovich piano
Elizabeth Watts soprano

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