In 1915, the young Alban Berg and the 50-year-old Richard Strauss completed major orchestral works. Both were responses to the Great War that had broken out in mainland Europe. Both required an enormous orchestra. And both were influenced by mountains.

Berg’s Three Orchestral Pieces, composed in his own Alpine retreat, attempted to rewrite the very language of Western harmony in the face of the crumbling power of Imperial Vienna. Strauss’ Alpine Symphony, however, was a retreat into nostalgia, a vivid evocation of a childhood walk in the Alps that was also symbolic of the individual’s eternal power.

In this concert, the two pieces are linked by narrated passages evoking writer Thomas Mann’s response to the same moment in history, drawn from his novel The Magic Mountain.

London’s leading pre-professional ensemble under the direction of its Artistic Director once again shines a refreshing and thought-provoking new light on the great masterpieces of orchestral repertoire.