Octets of the 20s

In 1924, when the City of Birmingham Orchestra was looking for a new conductor, we nearly gave the job to Eugene Goossens. 96 years later, here’s what we could have had: Goossens’s ebullient and very English Concertino is just part of a concert that proves that when you put eight musicians together, you get ten times the fun. Stravinsky and Shostakovich channel the spirit of the age: bracing, brilliant, and often outrageous. Edgard Varèse takes seven wind instruments (plus a bass) and creates sounds that no-one had ever imagined. But none of these composers ever stood still, so the CBSO is looking to the future too, with a world premiere by Grace-Evangeline Mason, one of its 20 Centenary Commissions.