Mystical contemplations and romantic longings come together in this passionate programme conducted by Scotland’s most celebrated living composer, Sir James MacMillan.

Gustav Mahler and Richard Wagner may not have agreed on many musical matters, but they show a similar tenderness in the concert’s central pieces. The Adagietto from Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, which found fame in the soundtrack to Visconti’s 1971 film Death in Venice, forms a deeply personal expression of yearning and emotion amid the Symphony’s furious drama. Wagner wrote his touching Siegfried Idyll as a heartfelt birthday gift for his wife Cosima, transforming heroic themes from his gargantuan Ring cycle into music of aching intimacy.

MacMillan opens with Charles Ives’ miniature musical drama posing philosophical questions to the cosmos, and closes with the first performances of Death in a Nutshell by Ayrshire-born Jay Capperauld, who has taken inspiration from the “godmother of forensic science”, Frances Glessner Lee, for this exciting new work.

Multibuy bookings

Multibuy offers are available in Edinburgh and Glasgow:
Book 3, 4 or 5 concerts and gain 10% off (senior citizens 12% off)
Book 6, 7 or 8 concerts and gain 15% off (senior citizens 17% off)
Book 9 or 10 concerts and receive 20% off (senior citizens 22% off)

More information here: Autumn 21