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Sibelius Symphony No 3

Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings
    Soloists: Nick Allen and Roy Banks

Britten Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra

Our season opener stars Sibelius’ hummable Third Symphony and Britten’s eloquent song-cycle – the serenade for tenor, horn and strings on the subject of ‘night’ – a starry sky, bugles at sunset. The concert finishes with his iconic ‘Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra’ – a set of variations on Purcell’s famous ‘Rondeau’, each showcasing a separate instrument – the whole brilliantly capped by a fugue.

Mussorgsky Night on a Bare Mountain (Rimsky Korsakov version)

Barber Adagio for Strings

Dukas Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade

Tchaikovsky Capriccio Italien

This collection of orchestral showstoppers kickstarts with Rimsky-Korsakov’s version of Mussorgsky’s mellifluous Night on Bare Mountain (as featured in Walt Disney’s Fantasia). After Barber’s famously heartfelt Adagio we continue with Dukas’ scintillatingly virtuosic Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Rimsky-Korsakov’s dazzling and sensuous Scheherazade, based on the Arabian legend of One Thousand and One Nights. Tchaikovsky’s catchy Capriccio Italien concludes, using tunes Tchaikovsky swiped from street performers in Rome.

Schubert Symphony No 3

Mahler Symphony No 10 (Cooke)

Schubert’s vividly Rossini-esque Third Symphony with its presto tarentella finale opens the evening, followed by Mahler’s resonant, tempestuous and intense final symphony which was dedicated to his estranged wife Alma.

Gwendoline Overture

Oboe Concerto

Brahms Symphony No 1

Our season finale rounds off with Brahms’ monumental First Symphony in C minor which is perfectly balanced by Chabrier’s lyrical Gwendoline Overture and the elegant oboe concerto by Vaughan Williams’ most gifted pupil, Ruth Gipps, performed by BYMT almuna Izy Cheesman.