Richmond Orchestra’s autumn concert takes in nearly a century of French Romantic music, and blends youth and maturity in equal measure. 

Berlioz was only 22 when he wrote the blazing overture to Les Francs-Juges, possibly his first masterpiece, in 1825. He had another 40 years of composition ahead of him. Lili Boulanger, though only 25, was in her last year of life when she produced the haunting D’un Matin de  Printemps in 1918. 

At the other end of the scale stands one of the pinnacles of French symphonic repertoire, Franck’s single Symphony. Written in the composer’s sixties when he was at the height of his powers, it combines driving passion and turbulent harmony with ethereal magic and lyrical sweetness. 

Edouard Lalo is nowadays mostly remembered for his violin showpiece Symphonie Espagnole but his cello concerto is one of the finest in the repertoire, and just as dazzling for the soloist. To play it we are delighted to be joined by Ellen Baumring-Gledhill, a former BBC Young Musician finalist and very definitely a star of the future.