THE world premiere of Liverpool composer Mark Simpson’s Straw Dogs formed the focal point of a concert influenced by America and performed by the RLPO’s Ensemble 10/10.

A passage from political theorist John Gray’s book of the same name inspired this new work by the 22-year-old composer, who has enjoyed a long relationship with the Phil despite his tender age.

A piece of contrast – long, almost languid melodies set against rhymical passages – it neatly bridged the gap between both parts of the show.

A challenging first half featured Michael Daugherty’s discomforting Snap, a tribute to the tap dancers of Hollywood’s golden age that James Cagney would struggle to recognise, and Nico Muhly’s By All Means, a cross between the chromatic variation of Webern’s Concerto for Nine Instruments and the rich, mellow sounds of Tudor music.

Cagney would surely have also struggled to get his feet around Miguel Del Aguila’s A Conga Line in Hell, whose title speaks for itself. Opening with jerky pizzicato giving way to interweaving Caribbean-flavoured phrases performed at the instruments’ most extreme registers, it’s an infernal dance that is at once addictive and repellent.

John Adams’s Son of Chamber Symphony completed the programme. A three- dimensional piece whose rhythm grabs you from the opening, it moves into an undulating melody in the second movement, abruptly interrupted by a sudden sense of urgency that continues in the punchy third.

LAURA DAVIS