Radio 3

Live at the BBC Proms: The Met Orchestra under Yannick Nézet‐Séguin performs Mahler, including his Rückert-Lieder with soprano Joyce DiDonato and the Fourth Symphony. Presented by Martin Handley, live from the Royal Albert Hall Kaija Saariaho: Lumière et pesanteur Gustav Mahler: Rückert-Lieder) c.7.30pm interval: The writer Emily MacGregor talks to Martin Handley about Gustav Mahler's life and legacy in the USA, and how he raised the status of New York above Boston when, as a world-famous conductor, he performed both at the Met and with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. c.7.50pm Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 4 in G major Star mezzo-soprano and former Last Night of the Proms soloist Joyce DiDonato joins Yannick Nézet-Séguin and The Met Orchestra for their second concert of the season. Mahler is in the spotlight celebrating the wonder of nature, innocence and faith in his Symphony No. 4 – lively with birdsong and sleigh bells – and looking beyond in the contemplative meditations – on life, death and transcendence – of his Rückert-Lieder. The same spirit runs through the swelling, breathing orchestral arcs of the late Kaija Saariaho’s Lumière et pesanteur (‘Light and Gravity’) – luminescent music adapted from the composer’s oratorio La Passion de Simone.