Programme
Ralph Vaughan Williams – Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Benjamin Britten – Les illuminations
Sir James MacMillan – For Sonny
Samuel Barber – Adagio for strings

Performers
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Laura Samuel – leader/director
Mary Bevan – soprano

Under its leader, Laura Samuel, the BBC SSO’s string section performs haunting classics of the repertoire in the impressive surroundings of St Magnus Cathedral. Vaughan Williams’s work based on a theme from the music of Tallis dates from just before the First World War, whilst both works by Britten and Barber precede the Second World War. The still, romantic serenity of Barber’s ‘Adagio’ sits alongside Britten’s intensely colourful setting of Rimbaud’s mysteriously complex poetry; a tour de force for strings and soprano. Here the orchestra is joined by one of the UK’s finest singers of her generation, Mary Bevan.

The concert will be recorded for future broadcast on BBC Radio 3.