“Thunder Breaking over the Fjords” - the iconic opening of Grieg’s piano concerto is one of the most dramatic and memorable moments in classical music. Almost a byword for the romantic piano concerto, Grieg’s sole concertante work blends 19th century tempestuousness with the folk melodies of his native Norway. The stormy opening is followed by an exquisitely poetic slow movement, and a dance-like finale straight from the halls of the mountain king. Superstar Anson Wong was a standout soloist in the GSO’s Young Artists competition last year, and (unlike Eric Morecambe) will very much be playing all the right notes - and in the right order!

Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony was an unusual departure for the composer. His longest programmatic [story-telling, rather than purely abstract] work, it followed in the footsteps of Berlioz and others in drawing inspiration from literature. Byron’s High Victorian Gothic poem, with its supernatural themes and Faustian hero, had defeated lesser composers' attempts at a setting, but nobody does angst better than Tchaikovsky, and he himself considered it amongst his finest work.

Perhaps the most celebrated Japanese painting of all, Hokusai’s “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” was hugely influential on Western impressionist painters, and also the greatest impressionist composer (even if he himself hated the label).As a portrayal of the sea, Debussy’s La Mer eschews the brooding menace of works such as Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture, for a shimmering score full of light and air, with movements titled “the Waves at Play”, and “Dialogue of the Wind of the Sea”. The nearest thing to a symphony he ever composed, Debussy brings his revolutionary orchestration to the fore, with a tonal palette that (fittingly, given the painting’s origins) reflects his general fascination with the orient.