National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain

The intense, contrasting moods of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 – the bitter solemnity of its funeral march, the violence of its second movement and the tenderness of the famous Adagietto – make this one of the great orchestral showpieces. In his Proms concerto debut, French pianist Alexandre Tharaud performs Ravel’s atmospheric and virtuosic Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, and the concert opens with the first of several works at this year’s Proms celebrating Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s 80th birthday – an atmospheric plunge into mossy, melancholic darkness, lightened only by the call of birds.