After the vast musical panorama of the Resurrection and Third symphonies, Mahler’s Fourth Symphony is on a more modest scale. This sublime work, which the composer likened to ‘the uniform blue of the sky’, is clouded by some sinister moments before settling on a child’s sunny vision of Heaven, the soprano singing radiantly of a feast prepared by the saints. Mahler considered his delicate Blumine, originally a movement in his First Symphony, to be an intimate and impassioned serenade depicting 'two lovers exchanging their tender feelings in the silence of the night.' Schubert described his substantial song Einsamkeit (Solitude) as 'the best thing I have done'. Divided into twelve sections, like a small song cycle, it takes us from isolated monastery to busy city to noisy tranquil nature to martial strife, heard here in a lyrical new orchestration by one of Germany's leading composers.

6.30pm Pre-concert Event Markus Stenz and Christopher Cook discuss the Wunderhorn Symphonies. With musical illustrations by musicians from the RNCM.

The BBC Philharmonic and Hallé concerts will be recorded for BBC Radio 3. The concerts will be broadcast from 5 April on consecutive Mondays at 7.00pm for 10 weeks.