The evening begins in the cosmos. Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir describes her Metacosmos as a fall into a black hole – a world where beauty meets chaos and where forces beyond our control draw us towards the unknown. Over the course of fifteen minutes, the orchestra expands and contracts, moving from fragile stillness to violent outbursts. Alan Gilbert has a special connection to the work: in 2019, he conducted its European premiere with the Berlin Philharmonic.

The journey then turns to something far more human: heartbreak. In Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, we follow a wanderer through four songs about loss, longing, nature and the search for peace. Mahler wrote the texts himself, and some of the melodies from these songs also find their way into his First Symphony.

After the interval, the world expands. Mahler’s First Symphony begins almost out of silence. Distant trumpets are heard, a clarinet imitates the call of a cuckoo, and nature seems slowly to awaken. What follows is music full of startling contrasts: a vigorous folk dance, a lone double bass playing Frère Jacques in a minor key, and a strange funeral march in which grief suddenly gives way to humour and irony.

And then comes the finale. Mahler unleashes the full power of the orchestra. What begins quietly erupts into sound, playful melodies turn dramatic, and the music surges towards a breathtaking climax.

On 13 June, the Royal Swedish Orchestra performs this programme at Gasometer under the baton of Music Director Alan Gilbert.

Cast subject to change.