Elgar and Vaughan Williams 9

At the time of his last symphony, Vaughan Williams had seen the damage of two world wars. The Ninth is a magnificent final statement, balacing dark with warmth, and dread with hope.

Reminiscent, ruminating and spiralling: Elgar’s Cello Concerto is unlike his early works and yet remains one of his most popular, from its unforgettable opening gesture, voiced by the cello, to its haunting themes.

Bax’s symphonic poem paints Tintagel Castle on a ‘sunny but not windless day’, evoking the characters who once inhabited it.