Prom 37: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra August 12, 2009

One of the most prolific, influential and instantly identifiable composers of our age, Philip Glass made an impact on the course of 20th-century music with his pioneering 'Minimalist' scores, going on to write major film scores – from Koyaanisqatsi and Kundun to The Truman Show and The Hours – and innumerable dance, theatre and operatic works.

In the first Prom ever devoted exclusively to Philip Glass's music, his first major orchestral score, the 1987 Violin Concerto, is played by Gidon Kremer, who made the premiere recording, and conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, a long-term champion of Glass's music.

Premiered in 2004, the 'Toltec Symphony' takes its title from the ancient pre-Columbian culture that reigned in Mesoamerica long before the coming of the Europeans, though vestiges of it still survive among the indigenous peoples of Mexico today.

There will be no interval

Philip Glass
Violin Concerto (23 mins)
Symphony No.7 'A Toltec Symphony' (UK premiere) (36 mins)

Gidon Kremer violin
BBC Symphony Chorus
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Dennis Russell Davies conductor