Who says Mahler has to mean epic? A jingling of sleighbells opens his Fourth Symphony; flutes call like skylarks and a melody straight out of Mozart swings cheerfully in. But it鈥檚 not all sweetness and light, and guest conductor Jes煤s L贸pez-Cobos will find tears, devilry and pitch black humour on the way to a final, blissful vision of heaven.
It鈥檚 an enchanting way to end an evening that features the rapier wit and sun-kissed beauty of Ravel鈥檚 brilliant little piano concerto 鈥� with the phenomenal Jean-Efflam Bavouzet reprising his award-winning partnership with the 麻豆社 Philharmonic - and opens with another high-voltage Koussevitzky commission: Hindemith鈥檚 bold and brassy Concert Music, a real showstopper from the Art Deco era.