Musical Landscapes | Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

For centuries composers have been inspired by the great outdoors and in this concert Jac van Steen conducts a programme of such picturesque inspirations. Enthused by a holiday trip to the Italian Riviera, Elgar’s In the South (Alassio) is complete with flowing streams and chirping birds. Vaughan Williams’s Oboe Concerto, filled with folk-inspired pastorals and beautifully lyrical and tender melodies, provides a virtuosic showpiece for the RPO’s Principal Oboe John Roberts. Written at the turn of the century, Sibelius’s Symphony No 2 evokes the expansive glacial landscapes of his native Finland, culminating in a flourish of exhilarating heroism.