This programme juxtaposes the epic grandeur of the Egmont Overture with the cantabile of Schumann’s poetically nuanced Cello Concerto and Strauss’s surprising ‘family portrait’, Sinfonia Domestica.

The story of the Count of Egmont, the 16th-century Dutch patriot whose protests under Spanish rule cost him his life, was sure to resonate with Beethoven, who responds to Goethe’s drama with a hymn to freedom that goes from tragedy to triumph. In counterpoint, Schumann’s concerto uses the warm voice of the cello to deploy the confidence of a cantabile of rare homogeneity, in no way reducing its virtuosity. With his Sinfonia Domestica, Richard Strauss invents a work of musical autofiction. Continuing from his symphonic poems, he creates a brilliantly written score whose movements reflect his own life: the family unit, putting his child to bed, the couple’s intimacy, merry bickering...