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A must-not-miss evening of ‘big music’ starts with a relatively gentle Sibelius symphony, said to be a homage to the 16th century composer Palestrina, and ends with Finlandia, Sibelius’s measured outburst of nationalist feeling against Russian censorship in Finland. Tchaikovsky’s brilliant and popular Violin Concerto was thought unplayable at first but all it needed at the time was someone who could cope with its never-ending Russian energy and lyricism. Stravinsky’s Symphony in C of 1940 is composed in his neoclassical style of ‘clarity and economy’ heard earlier in the season in his Danses Concertantes.

Supported by Chris & Diana Crewdson and Jane Panton.