Great Classics: Colours of Russia

Conductor - Giordano Bellincampi
Piano - Alexandra Dariescu

Shostakovich - Festive Overture
Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto No.1
Mussorgsky arr. Ravel - Pictures at an Exhibition

The APO concert season blasts off with seven minutes of simple, uncomplicated fun, courtesy of Shostakovich’s helter-skelter overture.

Then, perhaps the archetypal Romantic piano concerto. It’s one of the summits for concert pianists, and to conquer it the soloist needs heroic strength yet also delicacy and refinement.

Mussorgsky originally wrote his musical tour of an art gallery for the piano, and never considered orchestrating it. It was that musical magician, Ravel, who refashioned Pictures into a fabulous showpiece for an orchestra with plenty of panache.