Schumann has been described as ‘the quintessential romantic composer’.

His unfettered flights of lyrical fantasy stand in sharp contrast to Mozart’s masterful integration of classical disciplines and this is nowhere more evident than in his orchestral music. In this anniversary year we are offering concert-goers the relatively rare opportunity to hear a complete cycle of the Four Symphonies under the direction of Alexander Shelley, winner of the eighth Leeds Conductors’ Competition. The underlying characteristic of the ‘Spring’ Symphony is an appropriate joie de vivre as Schumann depicts first the onset and then the celebration of the life-renewing season. The Second Symphony is bursting with musical invention, all the more transparently conveyed through Schumann’s highly personal and often undervalued orchestration.