KSO’s season comes to a close with a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, the ‘Pathétique’ (1893). Written in Klin, near Moscow, the Symphony – which ends, unusually, with a slow movement – combines passion, tragedy and pathos.

Originally titled ‘The Passionate Symphony’ by Tchaikovsky, who considered it among his greatest works, it received an enthusiastic response at its premiere in St Petersburg in October 1893, conducted by the composer just nine days before his death.

The programme opens with Sibelius’ En Saga (1891-92, revised 1902), a tone poem that has been variously likened to a fantasy landscape, a hunting expedition or the storytelling of a bard.

KSO also performs Dance Scenes (1995) by the British composer Nicholas Maw, whose music has been described as modernist and neo-romantic. Maw puts various groups of instruments through their paces in this exuberant, vigorous set of four dances that fizz with influences from Walton to Britten.