Walton Symphony No. 1

The evening

A UK premiere by Cassandra Miller draws on customarily eclectic sources: a track from Peruvian banda San Martin di Sicuani; the transformative power of dementia; ideas of erasure, and ‘becoming-light.’ Expect wobbling sustains and elliptical melodies.

Around it are two of the finest orchestral works of the last century. Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia, scored for the unusual combination of double string orchestra with string quartet, and William Walton’s First Symphony. In 1935, Walton dedicated his Symphony No. 1 to his former lover, Baroness Imma von Doernberg, though the pair had been separated for some time. That relationship clearly left an impression. This is a turbulent, frenzied work drawing on an inexhaustible supply of white-hot fury. Malice, passion, ebullience – it’s quite the musical feast.