Four Last Songs

Available for 29 days

The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra is joined by conductor Nicholas Carter for music exploring forbidden love and dramatic landscape. The dramatic coastline of Cornwall provides compelling inspiration for Arnold Bax's overwhelming overture Tintagel. The impressive coastal castle provides a tangible link back to the legend of unrequired love and unresolved yearning which inspires Richard Wagner's opera Tristan and Isolde. The UK premiere of Edmund Finnis's The Landscape Wakes echoes the theme and the concert ends with the nostalgic Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss in which he reflects on the beauties of nature and the joy of a long life well-lived. Wagner: Tristan and Isolde; Prelude and Liebestod Edmund Finnis: The Landscape Wakes (UK premiere) 8.10pm Interval Bax: Tintagel Strauss: Four Last Songs Sarah Wegener (soprano) BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Nicholas Carter Recorded at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall on 14 March 2026 and presented by Mark Forrest. To listen on most smart-speakers just say, "ask BBC Sounds to play Radio 3 in Concert".