The Hallé Orchestra

They mark the centenary of the WW1 battles of Verdun and the Somme with this powerful concert. George Butterworth's untimely death in 1916 left us just a handful of pieces; the most popular, A Shropshire Lad, captures the immensity of youthful loss.

John Casken's Apollinaire's Bird was written for the Hallé's Principal Oboist, Stephane Rancourt, and is a stunning work representing the flight of a bird over the trenches.

Elgar wrote Sospiri shortly before the war and this heartfelt adagio seems to sigh in anticipation.

Vaughan Williams's Fourth Symphony evokes the turbulence of the 1930s, beginning with a cry for humanity and ending with a ferocious orchestral assault.