Strauss & Bruckner

The evening

From hushed contemplation to radiant choral power, an arc of transformation unfolds. Conducted by Alpesh Chauhan, we open with 1001 by Icelandic composer and violinist María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir, a work of luminous colour and subtle intensity. Strauss’s Metamorphosen, composed in the final months of the Second World War, follows as a deeply personal meditation on loss and renewal, its unfolding lines charged with quiet emotional weight. After the interval, we are joined by the BBC National Chorus of Wales for Bruckner’s monumental Mass No. 2 in E minor. Written for eight-part chorus and wind ensemble, the Mass fuses Renaissance-inspired purity with Bruckner’s unmistakable harmonic richness, creating music of profound devotion, restraint, and power.