Often Mahler's Ninth Symphony is programmed on its own; after all, what can be added to a work that encompasses the entire gamut of a man's experience?
But in this week's concerts, Donald Runnicles opens with Arvo Pärt's Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten and will perform the two works without a break.
"It is possible to put a listener in a certain frame of mind by preparing them with another work," he says.
Benjamin Britten was a great fan of Mahler's music.
"They shared a need for transparency, exactness and clarity," says Runnicles.
"The Cantus is quintessentially Pärt, and he in turn thought very highly of Britten as a man and a composer.
Britten's pacifism led him to be an outcast, a non-belonger, and that certainly relates to Mahler.
The first note of the Cantus is a bell on A" - the same note on which Mahler's symphony whispers into being - "so the meditation, the contemplation, the seeds for that resounding final silence, all that will begin long before the first note of the symphony has even sounded."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article