Behind this programme stands one of the outstanding supporters of music in the 20th century: the Swiss Paul Sacher, whose contribution as a patron, commissioner of new works and conductor was exceptional.

In 1951 he conducted the premiere of Jacques Ibert’s Symphonie Concertante for oboe and strings, a piece with a Mediterranean insouciance, in 1970 he presented to the public the artfully orchestrated Trois Danses for oboe, harp and strings by his compatriot Frank Martin, and in 1980 he premiered the Double Concerto for oboe, harp and chamber orchestra by the Polish avant-garde composer Witold Lutoskawski. These three works, inspired variously by styles ranging from French neo-classicism and Latin-American gestures to the abstract formulations of modernism, are brought together in the present production to form a small but well-contrasted snapshot of an age in which almost anything was possible.