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Episode details

Radio 3,31 Aug 2026,119 mins

Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony

Radio 3's Proms Marathon Monday

Available for 28 days

As part of today's Proms Marathon, Ian Skelly presents another chance to hear Kahchun Wong conducting the Hallé in music by Ravel & Rachmaninov. Pianist Alexandra Dariescu joins them for Nadia Boulanger’s poetic Fantasy for piano. Maurice Ravel orch. Colin Matthews: La vallée des cloches Nadia Boulanger: Fantasy for piano and orchestra Sergey Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2 in E minor Alexandra Dariescu, piano Hallé Orchestra Kahchun Wong, conductor Rachmaninov’s hard-won Symphony No. 2 – a profoundly personal triumph forged in the failure of his First Symphony over a decade earlier – is the centrepiece of this concert by Manchester’s Hallé orchestra and its Principal Conductor Kahchun Wong. Its expansive, late-Romantic lyricism meets the glowing, pealing soundscape of Ravel’s ‘The Valley of the Bells’ from his Miroirs, orchestrated by Colin Matthews. Pianist Alexandra Dariescu makes her Proms debut in Nadia Boulanger’s boldly poetic 1912 Fantasy for piano and orchestra, with its eclectic nods to Franck, Fauré and Stravinsky.

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Tracklist

  1. Track
    Artist
  2. 1.
    La vallée des cloches (from 'Miroirs')
    La vallée des cloches (from 'Miroirs')
    Maurice Ravel
  3. 2.
    Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra
    Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra
    Nadia Boulanger
  4. 3.
    Three Pieces for Cello and Piano: II. Vite et nerveusement rhythme
    Three Pieces for Cello and Piano: II. Vite et nerveusement rhythme
    Nadia Boulanger
  5. 4.
    Symphony No. 2 in E minor
    Symphony No. 2 in E minor
    Sergey Rachmaninov
  6. 5.
    Carissima
    Carissima
    Edward Elgar
  7. 6.
    Enchanted Suite
    Enchanted Suite
    Alan Menken