´óÏó´«Ã½

The ´óÏó´«Ã½ Symphony Orchestra conducted by Semyon Bychkov performs Bryce Dessner's Mari, Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, and Kirill Gerstein is the piano soloist in Strauss's Burleske.

In 1922, the ´óÏó´«Ã½â€¯made its first broadcast. As we celebrate a century of  informing, educating and entertaining, we look back on what the world was listening to 100 years ago, and to the future as the ´óÏó´«Ã½ SO (founded in 1930) continues to shape the sounds of the now.

It was in 1922 that Maurice Ravel turned to Modest Mussorgsky’s monumental piano work Pictures at an Exhibition, reimagining the piece in orchestral clothing and bolstering its shattering climax in the process. Semyon Bychkov presides over this performance of the resulting masterpiece, after the UK premiere of a 2021 work by American composer Bryce Dessner (who is also a member or rock band The National), commissioned by Bychkov himself.  Pianist Kirill Gerstein, a long-time musical partner of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Symphony Orchestra and Semyon Bychkov, takes on the hyper-virtuosic demands of Richard Strauss's Burlesque, a piano concerto homage to Brahms.

During the interval we'll hear recent recordings from the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Symphony Chorus - founded by the ´óÏó´«Ã½ in 1928 as The National Chorus. Amy Bryce's So All Voices Can Fly was specially commissioned by ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 3 to celebrate ´óÏó´«Ã½ 100. And Cecilia McDowall's Shipping Forecast pays tribute to ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4's daily broadcasts of the Met Office's weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the coasts of the British Isles - on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

Live from the Barbican Hall, London
Presented by Martin Handley

Bryce Dessner: Mari (UK Premiere)
Richard Strauss: Burleske in D Minor

20.20 Interval
Amy Bryce: So All Voices Can Fly
Cecilia McDowall: Shipping Forecast

´óÏó´«Ã½ Symphony Chorus
Philip Cobb (trumpet)
Richard Pearce (organ and piano)
Neil Ferris (Chorus Director)

20.45
Modest Mussorgsky
Pictures at an Exhibition (orch Maurice Ravel)

Kirill Gerstein (piano)
´óÏó´«Ã½ Symphony Orchestra
Semyon Bychkov (conductor)