London Symphony Orchestra - Bruckner, Messiaen

Live from the Barbican Hall, London.
Presented by Martin Handley

Sir Simon Rattle conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in Bruckner's Symphony No 8 and Messiaen's Couleurs de la cité céleste.

Messiaen: Couleurs de la cité céleste

8.05pm: Interval: BBC Young Musician 2016

Clemency Burton-Hill introduces the fourth of the finalists in this year's woodwind category.

Recorder player Polly Bartlett plays music by Frescobaldi, Barsanti, Ziegenmeyer and Le Thière.

8.25pm: Part 2
Bruckner: Symphony No 8

Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano)
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle (conductor)

Sir Simon Rattle conducts Messiaen and Bruckner, two composers as united in their devotion to the Catholic faith as they are divergent in their approaches to writing music. Messiaen's Couleurs de la cité céleste is a microcosm of his numerous preoccupations - from birdsong to the book of Revelations - set in a sequence of lively episodes performed by a reduced orchestra centred on the piano. This short piece sets the stage for Bruckner's monumental Eighth Symphony, a complete contrast with its grand scale and dramatic writing. It is performed here in the 1939 edition prepared by Austrian musicologist Robert Haas.

Followed by: Menuhin 100 - classic recordings from Yehudi Menuhin's discography.