Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra with Vasily Petrenko and Nobuyuki Tsujii

William Walton’s 1955 Partita gets this concert off to a boisterous start. Written at the invitation of George Szell for his virtuoso Cleveland Orchestra, it was wryly described by the composer as having “no ulterior motives or meaning behind it” but the spiky wit of this extrovert showpiece shows Walton at his jaunty best. No less appealing are the stylistic shifts of Rachmaninov’s famous Rhapsody which makes hay with the theme from Niccolò Paganini’s Caprice No 24 for solo violin. The astonishing Japanese pianist, Nobuyuki Tsujii – joint Gold Medal winner of the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition – makes his eagerly anticipated Nottingham debut.

Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra are an irresistible combination in Russian repertoire, so expect to spend forty minutes on the edge of your seat during Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony. Emerging from the wreckage of his short lived marriage, it’s the definitive emotional roller coaster, opening up with an arresting fanfare signalling the malign forces of fate, but ending joyfully with a whirling folk dance finale.

Free pre-concert talk, 6.30pm in the auditorium: Professor Robert Adlington, University of Huddersfield: 'Variations of Variations: the lure of Paganini's Caprice No 24'.