Two symphonies written 50 years apart, and perfectly complementary, bookend two great French works for piano and orchestra played by a master.

C茅sar Franck鈥檚 once hugely popular Symphonic Variations are paired with Ravel鈥檚 inventive Concerto for the Left Hand, both works played by the award-winning Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, a pianist with an innate and wonderfully natural feeling for French music.

They form the heart of a programme that opens with Florent Schmitt鈥檚 last work, his Second Symphony of 1957, a piece of luxuriant orchestration with a battery of percussion 鈥� a captivating follow-up to last season鈥檚 performance of Schmitt鈥檚 incidental music for Shakespeare鈥檚 Antony and Cleopatra. Sibelius鈥檚 Third makes a perfect complement to the Francophone tone of the programme, a work of almost classical poise and scale; another staging post in Sakari Oramo鈥檚 Sibelius symphony cycle.