The massed forces of the Hallé and Nottingham Harmonic Chorus perform this spectacular Russian programme. Prokofiev’s cantata, Alexander Nevsky, began life as music for the 1938 Eisenstein film of the same name and tells the story of Prince Alexander’s victory over the invading Teutonic Knights, climaxing in a gripping battle on the ice. No less colourful is Rimsky-Korsakov’s Russian Easter Festival Overture which, according to the composer, revels in the ‘unbridled pagan-religious merry-making of Easter Sunday morning.’ It was the characterful paintings of Viktor Hartmann, a close friend of Mussorgsky’s, that inspired the composer’s most famous work, originally a suite of piano pieces. In Ravel’s famous orchestration these became a brilliant orchestral showpiece, vividly capturing the paintings’ scenes and larger-than-life figures and ending with a glittering procession through the Great Gate of Kiev. The Halle website.| 12 Mar 11 | Theatre Royal Nottingham, Nottinghamshire Performance Details => Venue archive |
