Debussy had won the Prix de Rome and had resided for four unhappy years at the Villa Medici when he wrote his two movement symphonic suite Printemps for the notoriously stuffy Paris Conservatoire committee. His intent was to express the “rebirth to a new life” rather than mere tone painting, so while its thematic transformations are a little too obvious in the Franckian manner, the languorous harmonies and orchestration clearly predict his later idiom.

After three years of depression and writer’s block, Rachmaninov was in the full rush of creative activity with the Second Piano Concerto under his belt when he composed his first major choral work Vesna. The cantata for bass soloist, choir and orchestra tells the tale of a peasant railing with intent at his faithless wife during the long hard winter – she escapes a grisly end thanks to...