BBC Philharmonic/Sinaisky/Gruber

And so Manchester's Mahler marathon ­enters its ­difficult phase, between the creative eruption of the Second ­Symphony and the stylistic ­concision of the Fifth, when the composer compensated for diminished levels of inspiration with unshakable self-belief. The Third Symphony – at one and a half hours, the longest of ­Mahler's works – is an attempt to encompass the whole of Creation in symphonic form. The opening ­movement presents a ­primordial march intended to suggest the first stirrings of nature. Then comes a pastoral minuet, an off-stage horn concerto, a mystic Zarathustran hymn, a children's choir imitating church bells, and finally a grave epilogue in which Mahler speaks to God, ­having kept Him waiting in the lobby an inordinately long time. It is a symphony for die-hards, to which dedicated ­Mahlerians come armed with phone-directory- sized scores. The BBC ­Philharmonic's stamina proved incredible, while Vassily Sinaisky rose heroically to the challenge of ­maintaining interest in a colossally inconsistent work. The 84-year-old Viennese composer Friedrich Cerha had the unenviable task of providing a curtain-raiser, though the extreme timbres and splashy ­sonorities of his 20-minute piece Like a ­Tragicomedy was given a swashbuckling performance by HK ­Gruber, making his debut as the BBC Philharmonic's new conductor/composer. It was difficult to detect much comedy within Cerha's ominous soundworld, yet Gruber ­likens conducting the BBC ­Philharmonic to taking up the wheel of a new Rolls-Royce. It looks set to become an ­exhilarating ride.