I Verity Sharp introduces tonight's late-night I Prom from the Royal Albert Hall in London, featuring premieres from two of contemporary music's most eminent living figures, with Boulez's major reworking of an earlier instrumental work and Birtwistle's dark and sonorous setting of words by the Chilean revolutionary poet Pablo Neruda. BBC Singers, London Sinfonietta, conductor Susanna Malkki
Pierre Boulez Dérive 2 (revised version) (first UK performance)
Harrison Birtwistle Neruda Madrigales
(BBC co-commission: first London performance) Music choices: page 120