Live from London's Royal Albert Hall, Stephanie Hughes introduces a concert by one of America's most renowned orchestras, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, who under the baton of their dynamic conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen are performing two choral symphonies.

Shostakovich's Symphony No 2, descriptive of Russia's 1917 October Revolution, is followed by the traditional annual Proms performance of Beethoven's Symphony No 9 in D Minor, with its great ode to brotherhood and joy. The soloists are soprano Melanie Diener, mezzo-soprano Paula Rasmussen, tenor Robert Gambill and bass Eike Wilm Schulte, and the orchestra is joined by the BBC Symphony Chorus.

During the interval Esa-Pekka Salonen talks about conducting, composing and his musical passions.

(With in-vision subtitles)
(Also broadcast on Radio 3 and BBCi.)
(BBC Proms 2002 tomorrow at 5.45pm, with Mahler's Symphony of Thousand)