A nostalgia for England and its countryside is captured in the orchestral rhapsody and 鈥楢 Shropshire Lad鈥�, after words by the Victorian poet A.E Housman. George Butterworth was passionate about the nation鈥檚 folk heritage, collecting over 300 songs during his lifetime which was cut so very short in 1916 at the Battle of the Somme.

Written in the aftermath of that war, Elgar鈥檚 Cello Concerto is a lament for a disappearing world. Young Finnish cellist and finalist in the International Tchaikovsky Competition joins us for this most heartfelt of works. Intimate and plaintive, Elgar captures the very soul of the instrument.

From our green and pleasant land, we travel to the depths of Russia. The land
of Swan Lake and The Nutcracker also gave us the magical, majestic world of Stravinsky鈥檚 Firebird. The October Revolution is remembered in Shostakovich鈥檚 Second Symphony as John Storg氓rds continues his retrospective of this 20th century great.