Antoly Lyadov Baba Yaga and The Enchanted Lake (c.10 mins) Mussorgsky Songs of Dances and Death (c.22 mins) interval Tchaikovsky Symphony No.5 (c.47 mins) Sophie Bevan soprano Ryan Wigglesworth conductor Once upon a time… Russia was always a land of storytellers. Why would its composers be any different? Today Ryan Wigglesworth opens that storybook and shares what comes out. There’s a witch in a hut with hen’s legs, and a lake that might harbour supernatural beings, or a whole lost city (anything’s possible in the magical sound-world of Prokofiev’s teacher Anatoly Lyadov). Things take a turn for the macabre and Death rides a general’s horse, as soprano Sophie Bevan sings Mussorgsky’s blackly comic songs. And then it’s over to Tchaikovsky, and a symphony of sorrow, joy and simply glorious melodies. “With desire and passion” wrote Tchaikovsky on the score of his Fifth Symphony, and you’re about to hear why.

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