On holiday in Italy, Tchaikovsky collected folk tunes, bugle calls and dances, and tied them all loosely together in an exuberant confection.

If the Capriccio perhaps teeters rather splendidly on the edge of kitsch, his charming Rococo Variations is impeccably tasteful. Tchaikovsky adored Mozart and Haydn, and this delicate miniature cello concerto is his finest tribute to them.

Giordano Bellincampi brings more exuberance to finish the concert, in Schumann’s sunniest symphony. This is also holiday music, being inspired by an idyllic journey Schumann and his wife Clara took to the Rhineland.