Benjamin Britten: Young Apollo for piano, string quartet & string orchestra
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No.9 in E flat, K.271
Interval
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Symphony No.2 (A London Symphony)

Sir Andrew Davis conducts a sparkling Mozart piano concerto, Britten's joyous Young Apollo and Vaughan Williams' evocative Second Symphony.

Tonight's programme opens with music by two creative prodigies who were already well into their creative strides.

Mozart composed his 'Jeunehomme' Piano Concerto when he was 21, a stunning achievement which has at its emotional core a C minor slow movement of searing emotional intensity.

Britten was 26 and recently arrived in America when he premiered his Young Apollo, a joyously inventive work for piano and strings composed as Britain was entering the Second World War.

Vaughan Williams' London Symphony dates from the First World War and carries a dedication to the composer George Butterworth, who was killed fighting in the trenches in 1916.

Performers

Philharmonia Orchestra
Sir Andrew Davis conductor
Lise de la Salle piano