Ravel.. . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Pavane pour une infante défunte

Britten.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Violin Concerto 

Schubert.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Symphony No.9 “The Great”

Cristian Mandeal.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Conductor

Anthony Marwood.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Violin

Ravel meant the music to his Pavane to imagine a distant scene and time. “It is not a funeral lament for a dead child, but rather an evocation of little princess as painted by Velásquez at the Spanish court”. Written for solo piano, Ravel orchestrated it a decade later using many unusual and exquisite shades of instrumental colour.

Britten’s Violin Concerto was written as the Second World War broke out and there are dark portents in the opening timpani notes. Dark, yet dazzling, with haunting melodies, multiple crescendo finales and superbly energised virtuoso passages, it remains one of the most challenging works for violinists.

The nickname was originally coined to distinguish this work from the Sixth “Little C major” Symphony, but such is the Olympian scale and sublimity of the Ninth that the title is apt as an absolute description. It is a joyous, sunlit work. The noble opening horn statement and the ensuing extensive introduction indicate its expansive scale, whilst an astonishing, unflagging rhythmic vitality informs the whole symphony.

Tickets: £29, £26, £21.50, £17.50, £14, £9, discounts available.