The Full Works Concert - Thursday 11 July: London Symphony Orchestra Week

Tonight in the fourth of her special LSO concerts, Jane showcases perforamcnes of music by Elgar, Faure, Mahler and Mozart.

Master of the Queen's Music from 1953 to 1975, Sir Arthur Bliss - pictured - was appointed honorary president of the LSO in 1958. We hear him tonight conducting the orchestra in Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No.1 in D major with its famous Land of Hope and Glory refrain.

During the 2011 City of London Festival, the choral group Tenebrae joined a chamber ensemble from the LSO at St Paul’s Cathedral for a performance of Fauré’s Requiem. Fauré favoured serenity, joy and liberation for his version, over the dread and terror employed by most composers in theirs. By adopting a more comforting approach, he crafted music of astonishing beauty, in particular the Pie Jesu. This recording was described by Gramophone magazine as the very best Fauré Requiem on disc.

Istvan Kertesz (1929 - 1973) was an internationally acclaimed Hungarian conductor who, throughout his brief but distinguished career led many of the world's great orchestras, including the LSO. His orchestral repertoire numbered more than 450 works from all periods, and was matched by a repertoire of some sixty operas. Tonight we hear him conducting the LSO in Mozart's Rondo in a Major with Vladimir Ashkenazy at the piano.

Tonight's major work is Mahler's Symphony No.1 in D major with the LSO conducted by its current Principal Conductor Valery Gergiev. The symphony was mainly composed between late 1887 and March 1888, though it incorporates music Mahler had composed for previous works. It was composed while he was second conductor at the Leipzig Opera. Although in his letters Mahler almost always referred to the work as a symphony, the first two performances described it as a symphonic poem or tone poem. Some modern performances and recordings give the work the title Titan, despite the fact that Mahler only used this label for two early performances, and never after the work had reached its definitive four-movement form in 1896.

Pomp and Circumstance March No.1 in D major
London Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Arthur Bliss

Gabriel Faure: Requiem
Soprano: Grace Davidson
Violin: Gordan Nikolitch
Nigel Short conducts the London Symphony Orchestra Chamber Ensemble and Tenebrae

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Rondo in a Major
Piano: Vladimir Ashkenazy
London Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Istvan Kertesz

Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.1 in D major
London Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Valery Gergiev