Life in Vienna, Death in Venice

Strauss' Festival Music, written for the combined brass sections of Vienna's three renowned orchestras, opens proceedings in roof-raising style.

There's more to this piece, though, than brilliant fanfares. It also contains rich exchanges between two 'choirs' of brass, and lush lyrical passages

There couldn't be more contrast between the ending of the Strauss and the simple, hushed opening notes of Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto, played by the soloist alone.

In the central movement, too, the soloist repeatedly interrupts the strings' forceful chords with a gentle song, eventually reducing the whole orchestra to silence.

Beethoven himself gave the first performances of his concerto, and it's almost as if, right at the heart of the piece, his orchestral colleagues paused just to listen to him play.

'Ambiguous Venice, where water is married to stone,' sings Aschenbach, the protagonist of Britten's last opera.

The orchestral passages from the opera paint a haunting picture of this beautiful but claustrophobic city, in the grip of cholera.

A glittering array of tuned percussion represents Tadzio, the young object of Aschenbach's obsession.

Hints of Indonesian gamelan music emphasise the unbridgeable gulf between the two characters, and between Aschenbach's imaginary world and reality.