Edward Elgar
The Wand of Youth, suites excerpts No. 1 Op. 1a and No. 2 Op. 1b
Benjamin Britten
The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Op. 34
(variations and fugue on a theme by Purcell)

From youth, for youth!
Britten, ever the teacher, decided to introduce the instruments of the orchestra and their families in a series of variations on a theme composed by Henry Purcell. The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra serves as a veritable illustrated dictionary of an orchestra’s instruments.
With The Wand of Youth, Elgar dug out, late in his career, a series of pieces he had written as a child. He brilliantly orchestrated them into two suites, which plunge us into a world populated by bears, butterflies, giants, and fairies!

Approximately 1h without intermission