BBC Symphony Orchestra 2025/26 New Music with Jack Sheen and the BBC Symphony Orchestra

The colourful destabilised, floating soundworld of Christian Drew’s 'Aquarium Drifter' takes the listener to unusual places including a lounge-style jazz bar, and the sun setting over the Thames Tideway construction site in Bermondsey. Pulitzer Prize-winning Tyson Sorey’s 'Adagio (for Wadada Leo Smith)' features David Zucchi as saxophone soloist. Instead of a showcase for the technical virtuosity of the soloist, all the players are asked to play very quietly and at a glacial tempo.

Sky Macklay’s 'Microvariations' is a witty take on British conductor George Thomas Smart’s 1825 journey across Europe comparing his A = 423.5hz tuning fork to the tuning of every musical group he could find. Microvariations is a fast-forward sonic fantasy on Smart’s journey. Anton Lukoszevieze is a cellist, composer, visual artist and founder of the experimental group Apartment House. His 'Angel with Parachute' is scored for small orchestra with solo cello accompaniment.

The concert ends with a recent major work by one of Germany’s leading composers. Enno Poppe writes: “Strom is a work for orchestra that changes and develops very slowly from delicacy to massive monumentality and then back again to its delicate qualities.”

Presented by Tom Service and recorded for future broadcast on Radio 3's New Music Show.