Taibhithe de Grace Williams ag BBC Music

Dazzling woodwinds tarry with bustling strings, folk-like melodies weave with vibrant dance and climactic rushes make way to stately grandeur in Tchaikovsky’s charmingly wintery First Symphony, oozing his trademark symphonic craftsmanship from the off.

Dazzling woodwinds tarry with bustling strings, folk-like melodies weave with vibrant dance and climactic rushes make way to stately grandeur in Tchaikovsky’s charmingly wintery First Symphony, oozing his trademark symphonic craftsmanship from the off.

Striking a balance between the light-hearted and the noble, Elgar’s Variations are an ingenious collection of musical sketches of his friends plus an astute self-portrait; an enigma hidden within the score.

Striking a balance between the light-hearted and the noble, Elgar’s Variations are an ingenious collection of musical sketches of his friends plus an astute self-portrait; an enigma hidden within the score.

Guest conductor Emilia Hoving joins the “warm, bright” British baritone (and BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist) Andrew Hamilton on a guided tour for the ears: from Respighi’s glittering panoramas of Rome, to Grace Williams’s bracing Sea Sketches.