What's On / Proms by Day

Wayne Marshall returns after his festive First Night curtain-raiser (see Prom 1) with a programme celebrating the great French organ tradition. He also revives the seemingly lost art of the organ improvisation, so beloved of the great Gallic organ masters.

Two works by Messiaen continue the centenary celebrations, while Dupré's magnificent Second Symphony for solo organ demonstrates the richness of his musical language.

The recital opens with the brief but moving Te Deum by Dupré's pupil Jeanne Demessieux, titulaire of the Madeleine in Paris for many years. And Messiaen's successor at La Trinité, Naji Hakim, is represented by his Pange lingua, a short work dating from 1996.

Donald Runnicles, Scottish-born and newly appointed Chief Conductor of the BBC Scottish SO from September 2009, offers Mahler's symphony-with-voices, Das Lied von der Erde - a work that draws on Chinese poetry to magical effect.

Worried by Das Lied's seemingly morose message, Mahler added some lines of his own about the coming of spring and the renewal of life, and in doing so created one of the most intense closing passages in his entire output. 'Der Abschied' (The Farewell) is a challenge for any mezzo-soprano, but Karen Cargill, a former Kathleen Ferrier Award-winner, certainly has the pedigree. And in the tenor Johan Botha she has a partner of real vocal power.

Beethoven's first essay in symphonic form makes a perfect opener to the evening.