RSNO: Pictures At An Exhibition

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra are at The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on Saturday 12 December, with Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition as the main event. It's a piece that does exactly what the title suggests: it's a series of musical sketches based on an exhibition of paintings, and the imagery is vivid enough to follow even if you've never heard it before. You'll find dancing chickens, glowing skulls, witches, gnomes, and the sound of a thousand bells. It's a big, descriptive work that paints a picture in sound rather than words, and it takes up the bulk of the evening.

The night opens in Poland with Chopin, played by pianist Rafał Blechacz. The second half brings in a surprise from Scotland's own Thea Musgrave, so the programme moves from the 19th-century classics through to something more contemporary. Between the two, there's a good stretch of ground to cover, and the RSNO are the ones taking it all the way through.

If you're not entirely sure where to start with the music, there's a pre-concert talk in the Clyde Foyer at 6.45pm, free for ticket holders. It's a good way to get a bit of context on the pieces before the performance starts, so you know what to listen for when the music actually kicks in. The concert itself starts at 7.30pm and runs for about one hour and 50 minutes, with a 20-minute interval in the middle. The venue is The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow City Centre G2 3NY.