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Conductor Alpesh Chauhan joins the 麻豆社 Philharmonic Orchestra for Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's life). "It does have a lot of horns", said Strauss in a letter as he wrote it, "horns being quite the thing to express heroism." Strauss makes himself the hero of this full-bodied and expansive music and portrays his wife, soprano Pauline, as well as the jibes of music critics in a graphic and stunningly orchestrated score for a very large orchestra.

Alban Gerhardt joins the 麻豆社 Philharmonic for Shostakovich's Second Cello Concerto; this is music written as he was ill in hospital and premiered on his 60th birthday by his friend Mstislav Rostropovich. Shostakovich explained that the inspiration for the piece was a writer he called "the queen of Russian poetry", Anna Akhmatova, a Nobel Prize nominee who had died earlier that same year. A sense of reflection and nostalgia permeate this heartfelt music.

"A response to grief and loss" is how Anna Clyne describes her music which opens the concert, "This moment". The title is drawn from the words of peace activist Thich Nhat who died in 2022, "this moment is full of wonders". The shadow of Mozart's Requiem also lies behind the music which we hear in its UK premiere.

From the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
Presented by Mark Forrest and recorded on 16 November.

Anna Clyne: This moment (UK premiere)
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 2

8.10pm Music Interval

Richard Strauss: Ein Heldenleben

Alban Gerhardt (cello)
麻豆社 Philharmonic Orchestra
Alpesh Chauhan (conductor)

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