François-Xavier Roth returns to conduct the second set of concerts in his After Romanticism series, a carefully curated exploration of this significant period in music history. In 2016/17 he focuses on the music of Debussy and Bartók, two composers who radicalized the musical language of their predecessors to produce a brilliant and inventive style of their own.

Debussy’s Jeux was written for the Ballets Russes and the music itself overflows with rhythmic inventiveness that needs no choreography to dance its way out of the Orchestra. Bartók’s Piano Concerto No 3 was his last work, a virtuosic tour-de-force for anyone daring to take it on. But in the hands of Simon Trpčeski, whose energetic performances have dazzled audiences the world over, it proves to be a fitting capstone to this remarkable musical life. And from ends to beginnings, the concert concludes with Mahler’s titanic First Symphony.