Radio 3 in Concert

Mark Forrest presents from the Glasshouse, Gateshead, as Vasily Petrenko conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in a programme of romantic and dramatic music from Russia. The concert opens with Liadov's raucous and macabre tone poem Kikimora, which depicts a Slavic female spirit who is brought up by a magician, spinning flax with evil intentions. The orchestra is then joined by pianist Tom Borrow for a performance of Tchaikovsky's tour-de-force Piano Concerto No 1, a grand, passionate masterpiece of the piano repertoire. After the interval there is Shostakovich's Symphony No 10, the composer's dark and powerful response to the death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in 1953. It's a piece which is, at times, utterly terrifying, but which proved to be full of artistic catharsis for its composer - a musical sigh of relief, almost. Liadov: Kikimora, Op 63. Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No 1 in B flat minor, Op 23. Shostakovich: Symphony No 10 in E minor, Op 93. Tom Borrow (piano), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko (conductor).