Prom 42: Sibelius, Beethoven and Nielsen

‘Music is life – and like it, inextinguishable.’ Two giants of the symphony take the 20th century head-on, with shattering results. Sibelius seems to concentrate all the forces of air, earth and water in a Seventh Symphony that feels like it could have been wrought from the elements themselves. Nielsen confronted the brutality of the First World War in music that absolutely refuses to lie down and die – crowned by a life-or-death duel for two sets of drums. An epic evening from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under its Danish-born Chief Conductor Thomas Dausgaard: Beethoven’s lyrical Fourth Piano Concerto will form the eye of the storm, with Francesco Piemontesi (‘tremendous’: The Times)  as soloist.

£9.50–£52 (plus booking fee)