Peter Oundjian, Nicola Benedetti

The horns blast out a savage fanfare, the trumpets scream in reply - and the battle is on, as Tchaikovsky wrestles with his personal demons in music of startling rawness and emotion.

Peter Oundjian will make every note of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony a matter of life or death: and Nicola Benedetti proves why she's one of Scotland's most admired living artists, as she re-joins the RSNO in Shostakovich's tense political thriller of a violin concerto.