Despite its title, Evening Songs (1998) is written for orchestra without voice. The third song - Still Sleeping - was originally the final part of Turnage's chamber opera Country of the Blind, and when Turnage was asked to write a new piece for a Millennium Festival in Hamburg, he asked if he could add two movements to this existing epilogue.

The title, and sound of the piece, suggest that this is night music. When he was young, Turnage used to listen to music at night. 'I've memories of hearing things like the nightmarish scherzo in Bruckner's Ninth Symphony in the dark in my early teens. That's stayed with me so that I find myself writing a lot of nocturnes and lullabies.'

There's also a personal 'night reminiscence' in Still Sleeping. 'It has an ebb and flow which is almost like breathing' - and Turnage even composed the sound of the breathing of his sleeping young son into the music.

Book tickets for 30 January 2008, Royal Festival Hall

Evening Songs - sound clips
Click on the trianglular play symbols to listen to an extract from each song. If your computer does not have Flash installed, click the pink titles to listen via a media player on your computer.

Find out more about the London Philharmonic Orchestra's Turnage CD and downloads.

1. Almost Dreaming

2. In the Half Light

3. Still Sleeping

Full concert information for 30 January 2008, Royal Festival Hall

Book tickets online for 30 January 2008, Royal Festival Hall, or call the London Philharmonic Orchestra box office on 020 7840 4242.