The Hallé in Sheffield: January 2022

Although he’s never combined them before in a concert, Sir Mark loves conducting these two works by Debussy and Rachmaninov, which were both composed in the first decade of the 20th century. Debussy had a life-long love of the sea, finding the impetus for his three impressionistic symphonic sketches, La mer, in the painting of the Japanese artist Hokusai – his iconic image of a huge wave – as well as the seascapes of Turner. Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony is arguably the finest achievement of the composer’s middle period works and is a magnificent monument of late-Romantic Russian music. It’s full of memorable, long-breathed, beautifully scored melodies, tinged with melancholy, so characteristic of the composer.