Heras-Casado conducts Russian Classics

Programme

Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado returns with three vivid Russian works, joined by one of today’s most exciting young pianists.

From the authoritative unison horns and huge piano chords of the opening bars, through sweeping romantic melodies and moments of intense drama to the triumphant finale, Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto is an audience favourite. This was the piece that first brought Daniel Kharitonov to the attention of a worldwide public, when he played it in the 2015 Tchaikovsky Piano Competition aged just 16.

Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition is a vivid representation in music of ten paintings by Mussorgsky’s good friend Viktor Hartmann – the exhibition in question was organised after the artist’s untimely death. Contrasting scenes, from the humorous ‘Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks’ to the imposing ‘Great Gate of Kiev’, are linked by a ‘Promenade’ that leads the listener around this most memorable of galleries.

A book of Spanish folk songs provided the source material for Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnole. As he wrote in his autobiography, “According to my plans, the Capriccio was to glitter with dazzling orchestral colour.” And his plans certainly came to fruition – every section of the orchestra, not least the percussion, has the chance to shine in this swirling celebration.