BBC SSO: Rimsky Korsakov: Scheherazade

BBC SSO: Rimsky Korsakov: Scheherazade

TCHAIKOVSKY                                  Hamlet: Fantasy Overture (c.18 mins)
BLOCH                                                 Schelomo: Rhapsodie hébraïque (c.19 mins)
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV                      Scheherazade (c.44 mins)

Pablo Ferrández                            cello
Alpesh Chauhan                            conductor

Heralded by a blaze of brass, a solo violin spins a slow, languorous line to bewitch and beguile… Scheherazade’s opening is the musical equivalent of whispering ‘Once upon a time’ and Rimsky-Korsakov uses all his orchestral wizardry in these dramatic scenes from the 1001 Nights.

If that violin represents the seductive voice of Scheherazade, there’s a more mournful – if no less passionate – equivalent in Bloch’s Schelomo where the cello embodies the soul of King Solomon. Pablo Ferrández is the soloist and our Associate Conductor Alpesh Chauhan conducts. The concert opens with another musical portrait: Hamlet, a dramatic and tormented rendering of the Danish prince that makes use of incidental music Tchaikovsky wrote for Shakespeare’s play.

*£6 tickets are available for Students, Under 26s and Unemployed (Price Band C & D).