When peace came to Europe after World War II, Vaughan Williams was already the grand old man of British music. No-one expected the sheer, explosive force of his astonishing Sixth and, 70 years on, this firestorm of a symphony still leaves listeners reeling: John Storgårds unleashes its power tonight. Vaughan Williams wrote The Lark Ascending on the eve of a different war, but there’s a good reason why it regularly tops polls for Britain’s best-loved piece of classical music. If you’re one of the millions who’ve voted for it, we think you’ll also fall in love both with Grieg’s gentle Lyric Suite, and the gorgeous Violin Concerto by his Bradford-born friend Frederick Delius, performed tonight by the exceptional Guy Braunstein.
A performance of Delius’s String Quartet in the main auditorium.
