Donald Runnicles began our season with Mahler’s anguished final word; now he ends it with the composer’s creation of a new symphonic world. There’s never been a first symphony to match Mahler’s, and from the glistening stillness of its visionary opening to its final, epic ascent from the inferno to paradise, it’s one of those pieces that simply brings audiences cheering to their feet. It’s a suitably joyous ending to this 80th anniversary season – and to a concert that begins with the poetry and warmth of Brahms’s expansive Second Piano Concerto: a Romantic master at his big-hearted best, and a glowing conclusion to Denis Kozhukhin’s Â鶹ÊÓƵAV SSO Brahms cycle.
Prelude: 6.45pm in the Recital Room
Chief Conductor Donald Runnicles in conversation.
There will be no coda after this concert.
