91Èȱ¬

Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s large-scale orchestral work from 1986 explores the element of Earth with a primordial power and colossal ambition: it’s one of his greatest scores and impresses with its strength and ambition 30 years on.

Martyn Brabbins, a master of this music, then turns his attention to the element of Water – Ralph Vaughan Williams’s choral A Sea Symphony, one of the most confident first symphonies ever, first heard in 1910, with its two singers lifting the poetry of Walt Whitman into song.

Two superb singers of the younger generation and the 91Èȱ¬ Symphony Chorus join the 91Èȱ¬ Symphony Orchestra for a programme that exults in the power of nature.

Please note that soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn replaces the originally advertised Elizabeth Watts.