London Symphony Orchestra: Pictures at an Exhibition

Alain Altinoglu conducts a programme of late-Romantic Russian music, rich in melody and full of storytelling.

Mussorgsky based his comedic opera Sorochinsky Fair on Nikolai Gogol’s story of young love. Inspired by impressions of Ukranian village life, it is a tale brimming with folk touches, colourful characterization, and superstition. Simon Trpčeski joins the Orchestra as the soloist for Rachmaninov’s stormy, passionate Piano Concerto No 2, a dialogue between piano and orchestra written as the composer was emerging from a period of depression.

Closing the concert, Pictures at an Exhibition follows a visitor – Mussorgsky – walking through an art gallery. The strident melodies, irregular rhythms, and Ravel’s orchestration underline the mood of each painting he observes, from the woodwind chirpy chicks through to the reverberant brass in the catacombs, the percussive terror of the witch and the blazing brass and pealing carillons of the finale.

Programme

Mussorgsky Prelude to ‘Sorochinsky Fair’ arr Liadov
Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 2
Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition

Performers

Alain Altinoglu conductor
Simon Trpčeski piano
London Symphony Orchestra