Summary

Michael Finnissy’s Piano Concerto No. 2 begins in the lower depth and explodes into transcendentally demanding piano writing before the other players enter. Sir Harrison Birtwhistle’s Gigue Machine, which Nicolas Hodges unveiled in Stuttgart earlier this year, also receives its first UK outing and Brian Elias’s meticulously crafted Sophoclean scena, set in the original ancient Greek, gets its first performance anywhere.