Tchaikovsky’s elegant Nutcracker Suite leads on from Brahms’ serious Hungarian Dance No. 5, before Johann Strauss II introduces us to the boundless exuberance of the Polish March in his Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka.

In the concert’s penultimate work, Tchaikovsky transports the evening to the magical halls of snowy Tsarist Russia with a regal waltz from his ballet The Sleeping Beauty. The evening reaches its climax with the famous Blue Danube Waltz, not only proving the crowning jewel of a fabulous night’s worth of music, but the coronation of Johann Strauss II as the master of the Viennese waltz.