If this concert was a meal it would have the richest and most indulgent dessert you could imagine; perhaps a black forest gateau or a slightly boozy Tiramisu. Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night is a seriously indulgent pieces of music – the music is thick and treacly, and at times impossibly romantic. Benjamin Britten’s piece for voice and strings provides a counterpoint though; music that’s direct and powerful in a quite different way: spare, tight and full of suspense. Webern’s music that opens your evening is full of romantic yearning, an outpouring of love.

Schoenberg…but not as you might know him

Schoenberg’s music has a reputation for being a bit, how shall we put this, difficult on the ear. This is largely as a result of his decision in the early 20th century to adopt the ‘twelve tone technique’, which putting it very simply avoids having a key and instead treats all 12 tones of the scale equally. However, prior to him adopting the technique his music sounded very different, and much more immediately approachable. Transfigured Night is from this era, sounding like Brahms and Wagner mixed together and with the intensity cranked up a bit.