Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 – 1921) stood at a crossroads at the end of the 19th century, as French music forged its own path; he reached back into its past, drawing on medieval art and the forms of Rameau (1683 – 1764), while pointing forward to Ravel, who was 40 years his junior.

At this event we hear those influences in the jangling skeleton bones of the ever-popular Danse macabre, the swelling plainchant-infused melodies of the Organ Symphony, the molten solo part in the Cello Concerto, and the deft orchestral colours of the symphonic poem Phaéton.