Look up at night and you’ll see the stars – tiny fires in the sky. But for Yorta Yorta composer Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO, the spaces between the stars are as important as the stars themselves and this was the inspiration for Dutala – Star Filled Sky. The final stanza of Schiller’s text from Beethoven’s Choral Symphony provides the words in this powerful work for choir and orchestra: ‘Seek the Creator above the starry canopy.’

Debussy brings us down to earth, or rather takes us out to sea, with La Mer – a symphony in all but name. The sea is a life-giving force, says Jessica Cottis. Its power is greater than us, and with his wondrous rhythms and colours, Debussy builds a dialogue between elemental forces.

Where does George Gershwin fit in this picture? For him the element is rhythm. With a single sultry clarinet riff, his Rhapsody in Blue brought the jazz age into the concert hall and made a serious business of popular success.