Today Jukka-Pekka Saraste conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Arnold Schönberg's rarely-performed choral blockbuster Gurre-Lieder. This enormous work, a medieval love-tragedy, is an early masterpiece in which Schönberg's late-romantic voluptuous style attains a radiant C-major apotheosis.

Augmenting substantial BBC forces, Jukka-Pekka Saraste welcomes two guest choirs. An impressive international solo line-up is headed by New Zealand tenor Simon O’Neill as Waldemar, the cursed king. German soprano Angela Denoke makes her Proms debut as Tove and Swedish mezzo-soprano Katarina Karnéus returns as the voice of the Wood-Dove.

Broadcast live on BBC Radio 3