In its way of organising the coalition of individual sounds and the orchestral collective, Srnka’s Superorganisms operates as an ode to orchestra itself; the demonstration of orchestral versatility being continued with Mozart, Saint-Saëns and Mendelssohn.

Saint-Saëns’ charming zoological fantasy The Carnival of the Animals both enchants and amuses, with the braying of the donkey, the elephant’s clumsiness, the magical ‘Aquarium’ and satirical virtuosity of the ‘Pianists’, the kings of the menagerie!

Still steeped in the spirit of the ‘masters’ Bach and Mozart, Symphony for Strings No. 10 is a stunning example of Mendelssohn’s art and talents, even in adolescence. Mozart was also young when he composed his Symphony No. 31, a work with a certain impetus and theatricality, clearly meant to be a crowd-pleaser in 1778 Paris, but without any sacrifice in Mozartian quality.

The special feature of this concert is the French premiere of a piece by Czech composer Miroslav Srnka, exploring the transcendence of the individual in the collective—a fascinating notion, whether the ‘superorganism’ is a bee colony or... a symphony orchestra.