Programme

• Ravel - Pavane pour une infante défunte
• Saint-Saëns - Piano Concerto No. 5, ‘Egyptian’
• Berlioz - Symphonie fantastique

This all-French programme begins with Ravel’s serene Pavane, much-loved for its gorgeous horn solo. 

Saint-Saëns’ sparkling display piece calls for a soloist of sophisticated virtuosity, and luminous French pianist Cédric Tiberghien is more than equal to the challenge.

Berlioz’s spectacular symphony is based on its composer’s love life – although documentary fidelity goes out the window with its depictions of his own beheading and his beloved’s appearance at a Satanic orgy. Deliriously passionate, outrageously blasphemous and overpoweringly exciting, it’s a marvellous finale to a year of concert-going.