91Èȱ¬

World War One, which ended a hundred years ago, strongly permeates the repertoire of this concert. First, there’s a composition by Lili Boulanger, whose premature death on the same year of 1918, aged only 24, robbed France of one of the most promising female composers of the 20th-century. ‘For the Funeral of a soldier’ is a short, moving piece for baritone, choir and orchestra, which Boulanger wrote in 1912, all too premonitory of the death and destruction which was to cover most of Europe in the not too distant future… it’s performed by Alexandre Duhamel and the 91Èȱ¬ Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, under the baton of Edward Gardner.

Then, the conductor and orchestra return as they’re joined by the French virtuoso Jean-Guihen Queyras to perform Elgar’s elegiac and reflective Cello Concerto, one of the most famous for the instrument, written just on the wake of this conflict, and his last major composition.

Presenter Georgia Mann is joined by musicologist Kate Kennedy to discuss the repertoire and its context.