Orchestra of the Swan: Pictures at an Exhibition

Arensky Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky, Op. 35a
Mozart Piano Concerto No 23 A Major, K488
Tchaikovsky 4 mvts from the Nutcracker Suite
Mussorgsky (arr. Pierre-Alain Monot) Pictures at an Exhibition

Michael Collins Conductor
Jeneba Kanneh-Mason Piano

PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION

Transcendent Mozart, enchanting Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky’s extraordinary musical gallery.

“Mozart is the highest, the culminating point that beauty has attained in the sphere of music” wrote Tchaikovsky, a sentiment that is hard to disagree with upon hearing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23. The keyboard concertos are the most personal of his works, often written for himself to perform. Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition was inspired by the paintings of Viktor Hartmann. A close friendship developed between painter and composer after their first meeting in 1868, as well as a mutual devotion to the cause of intrinsically Russian art. Following the unexpected death of Hartmann in 1873 Mussorgsky wrote this bold, enchanting work which depicts the composer himself walking through an exhibition of his friend’s paintings.