91Èȱ¬

Felix Mendelssohn: Hebrides overture
Modest Mussorgsky, orch. Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition
91Èȱ¬ National Orchestra of Wales
Elim Chan, conductor

When the young Mendelssohn toured Scotland in 1829, he was expecting a country of ancient Gaelic bards and romantic deeds. It was the natural beauty of the Hebrides, however, that made a particularly strong impression on him and the overture that the islands inspired remains one of the most evocative symphonic seascapes ever composed.

Orchestral showpieces don't come more colourful than Ravel's orchestration of Mussorgsky's daring set of piano pieces. The impetus was provided by a posthumous exhibition of works by the Russian painter and architect Viktor Hartmann and Mussorgsky composed the Pictures very quickly, in just a couple of weeks. He wrote to a friend: ‘sounds and ideas hung in the air, I am gulping and overeating, and can barely manage to scribble them on paper’. But the work wasn’t published in his lifetime and it took until the 20th century for it to establish itself as a much-loved classic.

To introduce the concert, Andrew McGregor is joined at London’s Royal Albert Hall by Suzanne Aspden, Associate Professor of Music at Oxford University.

Photo: Conductor Elim Chan Credit: 91Èȱ¬/Chris Christodoulou