Walton’s much-loved Belshazzar’s Feast is one of the composer’s most acclaimed pieces, telling of the Jews’ miraculous regaining of their freedom following the fall of the Babylonian King Belshazzar. Welsh-born baritone Neal Davies, a regular visitor to the Festival, takes the demanding solo part in a thrilling work full of rich orchestration and fiery climaxes.

American conductor David Robertson precedes Walton’s opulent oratorio with music by two of his pioneering compatriots. Ives’s The Unanswered Question is an enigmatic piece with a solo trumpet throwing out interrogations to the cosmos. The shimmering web of hushed sounds that forms Morton Feldman’s Coptic Light delights the ear with its luminous patterns of light and shade.