This Saturday's prom features two remarkable symphonies - Julius Eastman's Symphony No. II - The Faithful Friend: The Lover Friend's Love for the Beloved will receive its UK premiere, followed later by Sibelius' awe-inspiring Fifth Symphony. Principal Guest Conductor Dalia Stasevska will lead The BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Eastman's symphony, written in 1983 but not seen or performed until 2018, is his only surviving orchestral work and was composed as a parting gift to his partner at the time, poet R. Nemo Hall. The work tells of their love and its disintegration in an orchestral language all of its own - part drone, part thematic symphony. It was inspired by a parable of two people embracing each other that Eastman observed on the streets of New York. In the score he writes:
On Tuesday, Main and Chestnut at 19 o’clock, The Faithful Friend and his Beloved Friend decided to meet. On Monday the day before, Christ came, just as it was foretold. Some went up on the right, and some went down on the left. Trumpets did sound (a little sharp), and electric violins did play (a little flat). A most terrible sound. And in the twinkling of an eye the Earth vanished and was no more. But on Tuesday, the day after on Main and Chestnut at 19 o’clock, there stood the Lover Friend and his Beloved Friend, just as they had planned, embracing one another.
Following the extraordinary work will be Gustav Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder, songs on love, loneliness and withdrawal, sung by the inimitable Jamie Barton.
Sibelius' Fifth, his testament to nature’s capacity to embolden and console will be performed after the interval. Sibelius expressed his admiration for the symphony’s “style and severity of form, as well as the profound logic creating an inner connection among all of the motives” in a famous meeting with Mahler. He also said of the work;
I should like to compare the symphony to a river. It is born from various rivulets that seek each other, and in this way the river proceeds wide and powerful toward the sea.
The full concert will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 on Saturday 24th August at 7.30pm.
