Sakari Oramo conducts Grime, Arnold and Vaughan Williams

The evening

“This symphony describes my children” was how Sir Malcolm Arnold described his Seventh Symphony, and he never wrote anything more personal. By turns explosive, tender and hauntingly sad, it’s an unforgettable experience. There’s a reason why Arnold is regarded by many as Britain’s greatest post-war symphonist, and Sakari Oramo believes that it’s an unsung masterpiece.

Tonight, following his acclaimed performances of Arnold’s Fifth Symphony, Oramo places the Seventh alongside two very different works by two more great British originals. Images of angels by Paul Klee inspired the percussion concerto that Helen Grime composed for tonight’s soloist Colin Currie. And Vaughan Williams’s radiant 'Fantasia Theme of Thomas Tallis' stands alone in its beauty; forever timeless, forever new.