If full-blown emotion’s your thing, then look no further. Sibelius’s First is unquestionably the composer’s most Romantic symphony and often recalls Tchaikovsky at full tilt. Richard Wagner, too, gave everything when writing his epic opera of star-crossed lovers, so expect 100 percent passion and commitment from the orchestra under our conductor, Mark Wigglesworth. At the eye of the storm, however, all is calm. A lark, free from human angst, sings and soars above a pastoral landscape and time stands still. Every performance of Vaughan Williams’s most popular work is a special occasion and here the sensational Rosanne Philippens gives voice to the bird.
