This year鈥檚 focus on William Walton wouldn鈥檛 be complete without his witty, genre-bending 鈥榚ntertainment鈥� 贵补莽补诲别. Shostakovich is also seen here at his most whimsical. Arranged from the composer鈥檚 earlier film scores, the Four Waltzes range from the good-humoured 鈥楽pring Waltz鈥�, to the faux na茂f 鈥榃altz-Scherzo鈥� and the charmingly kitsch 鈥楤arrel Organ Waltz鈥�.

Sir Harrison Birtwistle turns 80 this summer. The Birmingham Contemporary Music Group celebrates with a performance of three of the composer鈥檚 classic early works. Verses for Ensembles, Dinah and Nick鈥檚 Love Song and Meridian all explore intriguing and unfamiliar textures, but never neglect the ever-unfolding melody that is the core of all Birtwistle鈥檚 music.

The young British pianist performs a programme with a dance theme pulsing through it. Chopin鈥檚 stately Ballade No. 1 gives way to the dizzying virtuosity of Ravel鈥檚 Valses nobles et sentimentales, before the waltz returns, transfigured, in Liszt鈥檚 Waltz from 鈥楩aust鈥�. Mompou鈥檚 Paisajes transports us to Barcelona, and Grosvenor also premieres a new work by Judith Weir.

Celebrating his 80th birthday this year, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies is one of the greats of contemporary British music. A programme chosen by Davies himself ranges from the sleek chamber textures of A Mirror of Whitening Light to the music-drama of Revelation and Fall. London Sinfonietta Principal Cellist Timothy Gill is the soloist in Linguae ignis鈥檚 writhing plainchant melodies.

Pianist Louis Schwizgebel and the dynamic Royal String Quartet are the key players in a concert that culminates in Richard Strauss's richly nostalgic Metamorphosen, heard in an intimate arrangement for string septet. Alongside it are Mahler's contemplative Piano Quartet movement and Mozart's elegantly poised Piano Sonata in D major, K311.