Tchaikovsky's fate-fuelled Fourth Symphony with its blood-curdling opening brass fanfares and blazing climaxes never fails to create a sensation. The versatile Danish violinist Nikolaj Znaider turns maestro after studying conducting with Daniel Barenboim. He opens the concert with two miracles of inspiration and atmosphere, Wagner's gorgeous preludes to the first and third acts of his fairy-tale music-drama, Lohengrin. Mozart's sparkling Oboe Concerto is played by the Hallé's own much admired principal oboist, the French-Canadian Stéphane Rancourt.