Britten’s relationships with other musicians could be prickly, but he became firm friends with cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. One result was his Cello Symphony, which Rostropovich premiered in 1964, with the composer conducting. As the OSO showed, it’s a dark, uneasy work from the outset: the soloist is thrown straight in with some dissonant chords, accompanied by tuba, percussion, and bassoon. It was soon evident that the orchestra was going to have a strong relationship with soloist Tim Hugh, principal cellist of the LSO — it no doubt helped that conductor Robert Max is a cellist himself. As the first movement progressed, the orchestral strings added their voice, with pizzicato playing sounding like stinging sleet driving off the North Sea into Suffolk, Britten’s home county. This is not a lightweight piece either to listen to or to play, but the OSO produced a gripping account.

The other work played, Elgar’s First Symphony, also has a connection with Britten. In his diary, he wrote: “Only in Imperialist England could such a work be tolerated.” Yes, the symphony’s processional opening theme could sound jingoistic, and could have been written by no other composer. But Britten seems to have missed the point made in this concert: the whole symphony suggests a sense of yearning and insecurity. This was particularly emphasised in the OSO’s playing of the finale, where a march-like theme dissolves into a lyrical melody, full of wistful sadness. The strings again came to the fore here, as did the brass in the tempestuous finale, which brought this committed performance to a close.