Symfonisch Orkest van de St. Petersburg Philharmonia olv. Alexander Dmitrijev

Alexander Dmitriyev and his orchestra made quite an impression when they gave their first performance in November 2004. We have therefore decided to invite them back and they have returned with one of their old time favourites, 'Scheherazade' by Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908). The bedtime book Scheherazade is surely the best-known work of Arab literature. The thousand-and-one tales told by the legendary courtesan were collected between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. Tales full of magical imagination, exotic surprise and endless clichés. The collection of Arabian, Indian and Persian fairy tales quickly found their way onto western bedside tables. Not surprisingly these fairy tales were a great inspiration to the world of music. In 1888, Rimsky-Korsakov wrote the perfect soundtrack to this tantalizing collection of tales. The orchestra opens the evening with Wagner's famous Tristan chord from 'Tristan und Isolde'. In fact it is not a chord, but a musical figure that is only resolved harmonically at the end of the opera - four hours later in Isoldes 'Liebestod'. Edward Grieg (1843-1907) wrote his piano concerto in 1868; it is an early work and at the same time a popular highlight from his oeuvre. An ideal occasion to get acquainted with Peter Petrov the Bulgarian piano talent.