Tchaikovsky’s much beloved and lyrical Violin Concerto is a marvellous combination of violinistic pyrotechnics and deep sentiment, performed by Auckland favourite Clara-Jumi Kang.

Suppe’s operettas are rarely played, but audiences rightly love their zippy, bubbly overtures.

Haydn displays his cheerful optimism in his Symphony No.93. And to finish, a composer who greatly admired Tchaikovsky. Stravinsky’s ballet The Fairy’s Kiss is a potpourri of his predecessor’s music, albeit thoroughly re-imagined as only Stravinsky can do.