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Attempts at crowd-pleasing go awry in music by Vaughan Williams and Gary Carpenter, while John Foulds escapes unscathed.

Tchaikovsky’s warhorse piano concerto is given a performance stripped of all showmanship. Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra completes this oddly programmed concert from the RLPO.

The CBSO shines in a programme of big, energetic music and tender emotions.

An evening of fine music-making in Birmingham thanks to the CBSO Youth Orchestra Academy and Michael Seal. 

The citizens of Birmingham were queueing up at the door when I arrived in good time for this concert, and the hall was nearly full when the concert began. All seats were unreserved and at the same price wherever you sat – an arrangement that has always appealed to me.