Article published in Manchester Evening News 11 September 2015

THE BBC Philharmonic’s Bridgewater Hall series begins with a blockbuster on September 19: Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphony, conducted by Juanjo Mena, with Valérie Hartmann-Claverie playing the Ondes Martenot and Steven Osborne the piano. It’s a repeat of their concert at the BBC Proms in mid-August.

Written in 1948, Turangalîla is a visionary work on the theme of love – and the Ondes Martenot is one of the earliest electronic instruments whose Dr Who-ish sound is controlled by the player’s hands.

This is the first of a series mainly based on themes connected with Leonard Bernstein, who died 25 years ago. It taps not only into his own work as composer, but music he conducted (he premiered Turangalîla) and those he learned from, including Serge Koussevitzky (who commissioned Turangalîla).

Philharmonic chief executive Simon Webb says: “We’re trying to give a strong but broad identity to our season. We have taken Bernstein as our core idea and asked how his music-making arose, and what impact it had.

“It leads us to Koussevitzky, to connections between Europe and America, to Mahler – whose conflicts, including those of his Jewishness and his sexuality – he found within himself, too. Our season ends with Mahler’s ‘Resurrection’ symphony.

“Bernstein also straddled the pop/classical divide, writing West Side Story and other Broadway shows – something almost unique at that level – and there’s something of that, too.

“The other work in the first programme, though, is British, and British music is one of our other major themes.” It’s Three Mantras, by John Foulds, who was born in Manchester in 1880 (his father played in the Hallé) and interested in the music of the Indian sub-continent, as much as Messiaen was in 1948.

The British theme continues with works by Mark Simpson, the young newly-appointed composer in association of the Phil, and by well-known British names, dotted through the programmes. One concert later in the season includes music by young Manchester-trained composers.

For me, one of the most intriguing programmes is an American-themed one, coming in January. It includes Aaron Copland’s Organ Symphony and Billy The Kid suite, a suite from Korngold’s film music for The Adventures Of Robin Hood, a piece by Philip Glass – and, with Jonathan Scott, that Mancunian wizard of the organ console, opening the show, the hilarious piece by Charles Ives called Variations On ‘America’ … which means they’re on the tune we Brits usually call God Save The Queen.