BBC Symphony Orchestra 2025/26 Martyn Brabbins conducts Liadov & Tchaikovsky

Midwinter magic: it’s a season of crisp frosts and fireside tales, mist-clad forests and icy blue skies. That’s the story that Tchaikovsky told about his 'Winter Daydreams' symphony, anyway, but however you choose to hear it, this youthful, folk-inspired masterpiece remains one of the most enchanting (and colourful) first symphonies by any great composer.

It’s perfect, in other words, for a January day. And in this short but magical free concert with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conductor Martyn Brabbins has chosen to pair the symphony with a lost jewel by one of Tchaikovsky’s favourite contemporaries: the wonderfully tuneful ballade, 'About Olden Times', by Anatoly Liadov, Russian music’s forgotten master of musical colour. Imagine a Fabergé egg in sound.