01/11/2011

Louise Fryer introduces a concert of Russian music from the BBC Philharmonic conducted by the orchestra's Conductor Emeritus

Rimsky-Korsakov Overture The Tsar's Bride

Rachmaninov Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini
with Howard Shelley (piano)

Shostakovich Symphony no. 11 'The Year 1905'

Hamilton Harty Tone Poem With the Wild Geese
Vassily Sinaisky (conductor)

Haydn Symphony no 75 in D major (Hoboken 1/75)
Nicholas Kraemer (conductor)

It's the year 1905: the Russian Empire teeters on the brink of revolution. And as crowds of protestors fill St Petersburg's Palace Square, great and terrible events are about to unfold. With its angry trumpets, revolutionary chants and jangling bells, Shostakovich's 11th isn't just one of the mightiest of modern symphonies. It's practically a film score without the pictures, a sweeping panorama of political struggle and human tragedy that leaves the ears ringing and the heart pounding.

For the BBC Phil's Russian Conductor Emeritus Vassily Sinaisky, this music is in the blood: expect him to charge every note with a deeply personal significance. First, though, Sinaisky brings his trademark verve to two very different Russian showstoppers - Rimsky-Korsakov's melodramatic overture, and Rachmaninoff's hugely popular, unforgettably romantic Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Snow on the boots, fire in the soul!

And that's followed by a haunting tone poem by an Irish-born pianist-conductor-composer who died seventy years ago this year.