English Symphony Orchestra

About the show

Elgar – Serenade for Strings
Matthew Taylor – Romance for Strings
Copland – Clarinet Concerto
Mahler – Adagietto from Symphony No.5
Schoenberg – Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night)

Mahler’s heart-rending Adagietto needs is regularly in the Top 40 of Classic FM’s annual Hall of Fame, while Schoenberg’s early works are among the most lyrical and romantic pieces ever written; his impassioned Transfigured Night is a musical realisation of a Richard Dehmel poem, in which a young woman confesses to her betrothed that she bears another man’s child, conceived before they met. His acceptance of her, and resolve to raise the baby as theirs, is one of the most touching moments in classical music.