The Iceland Symphony Orchestra with Eva Ollikainen and Stephen Hough

Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s spellbinding music was an abiding memory from the Iceland Symphony Orchestra’s first visit to Nottingham in 2020, so we’re delighted that this concert opens with her recent acclaimed tone poem, Metacosmos, a darkly atmospheric meditation on beauty and chaos. Also making a welcome return is the British polymath pianist, Stephen Hough, who’ll be playing Beethoven’s 1803 Third Piano Concerto. Bearing the imprint of Mozart’s dark-hued 24th Piano Concerto – a favourite of Romantic composers – its extra expressive punch and taut structure announced him as a radical new musical force.

Often subject to self-doubt, Tchaikovsky etched his personal struggles into the fabric of his final three symphonies. In each, the forces of fate acting against individual freedom are given intensely dramatic and sometimes tragic expression, but in his Fifth Symphony the emotional journey ends triumphantly. Tchaikovsky’s masterful development of its eloquent opening theme ensured that it became the most popular of all his symphonies, with passionate melodies, a roll call of perfectly-pitched solos, and an irresistible marching finale to bring it home.

Free pre-concert talk, 6.20pm in the auditorium: Dr Katy Hamilton introduces the programme.