| Main Performers | David Wilson-Johnson, narrator, |
| Choirs | Philharmonia Voices (mens voices) |
| Set List | 'A Survivor from Warsaw', Schoenberg,
'The Shadows of Time', Dutilleux
INTERVAL
'Symphony No.1 in D Major', Mahler |
| Performance Notes | Mahlers First Symphony isnt just the opening chapter of the composers spiritual autobiography, its also an awakening in itself. From hushed strings and woodwind cuckoos, it breaks into a forthright stride towards, eventually, a blazing affirmation of camaraderie and confidence. Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the symphony here with his own Philharmonia Orchestra, following meditations on loss from Arnold Schoenberg and centenary composer Henri Dutilleux, whose The Shadows of Time was inspired by the diaries of Anne Frank and written to mark 50 years since the end of the Second World War.
Simon Russell Beale, the advertised narrator, had to withdraw from the performance and was replaced David Wilson-Johnson.
"Whatever images might waft into the mind during Mahler's First Symphony - sunrise, army barracks, gates of Hell - you'd have seen each one with amazing clarity in the Philharmonia Orchestra's Prom on Monday. Even the quirky acoustics of the Albert Hall, every colour and texture from Esa-Pekka Salonen's team seemed sculpted in 3D; trumpet reveillews; dewdrop plinks from the harp; muscular thrusting from the lower strings."
(The Times, 9 August 2016) |
| Related Archival Material | Proms Guide (RAHE/1/2016/50),
Programme (RAHE/1/2016/81),
Mini-Guide (RAHE/6/2016/45) |