Radio Times: Review by:; David Gillard

Master of the Queen’s Music Sir Peter Maxwell Davies celebrates the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee with a new symphony, the Ninth, a one-movement work for orchestra and brass sextet that receives its London premiere here. There are some appropriate fanfares but the symphony has also been described as “an angry work” and the composer admits that it bears witness to “our disastrous interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan — comparable only to the folly of the medieval crusades and the Crimean war”.

The concert also continues the Proms celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Delius with his sometimes passionate, sometimes dreamlike Violin Concerto, played by Tasmin Little, and the evening ends with Shostakovich’s bleakly powerful Symphony No 10. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Vasily Petrenko.

About this programme

Live from London's Royal Albert Hall, Vasily Petrenko conducts the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in contrasting symphonies by Peter Maxwell Davies and Shostakovich, and Tasmin Little performs Delius's rhapsodic Violin Concerto. Presented by Andrew McGregor. Tasmin Little (violin), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Vasily Petrenko. Peter Maxwell Davies: Symphony No 9 (first London performance). Delius: Violin Concerto. 8.25 Proms Plus Literary. Glenda Jackson MP and film critic Mark Kermode celebrate the work of Ken Russell, director of controversial films about Delius, Elgar and Strauss. 8.45 Shostakovich: Symphony No 10 in E minor. Repeated on Tuesday September 4 at 2pm.