Snape Aldeburgh Festival 1 by Anderson, Julian, Matthews, C., Elgar, Tippett, Od (2016/2016), Dirigent Ryan Wigglesworth, Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Snape, United Kingdom

The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra opens a pair of interlinked programmes with Tippett’s celebrated set of interludes which encapsulate his opera’s explorations of psychology, mysticism and pantheistic joy in a seething and sensual midsummer celebration. In Anderson’s luminously beautiful van Gogh-inspired work, the traditional combat of the concerto form is rejected in favour a subtle shadowy interplay – pure orchestral theatre. The wonder of Elgar’s enigma lies not just in the serenity of the famous centrepiece but in its miracle of compression, the portraits of his ‘friends pictured within’ a tautly curated exhibition of vigour and variety, full of airy elegance and puckish verve. This concert is promoted by Aldeburgh Music.