A lyrical tour through art with Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and Rachmaninoff's Isle of the Dead, plus violinist Himari performing Glazunov's Violin Concerto.
The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is bringing Pictures at an Exhibition to Powell Hall on Saturday, November 28, at 7:30 PM and Sunday, November 29, at 3 PM. Conductor John StorgĂĄrds leads the program, which pairs two works that both take their cues from painting: Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and Sergei Rachmaninoff's Isle of the Dead. Between them, violinist Himari makes her SLSO debut with Alexander Glazunov's Violin Concerto.
Pictures at an Exhibition is the one most people will recognize, and it's the Maurice Ravel orchestration that's on the bill. It's built as a series of musical sketches, each one meant to evoke a different painting, with the melody and the timbre acting as a tour guide through the gallery. Rachmaninoff's Isle of the Dead works on a similar premise, drawing from a specific painting to build its atmosphere. When you hear them in the same program, the connection between the two becomes the whole point.
In the middle is the Glazunov concerto, and that's where Himari comes in. She's described as an extraordinary prodigy, and this is her first time playing with the SLSO. The concerto itself is known for a kind of beautiful tension that sits right between the two larger works.
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Both performances run an hour and 50 minutes, including intermission. After the music, the SLSO's After Party is a relaxed, modern post-concert hang in the lobby, and it doesn't require an additional ticket. So you've got the Saturday night show at 7:30 PM and the Sunday matinee at 3 PM—take your pick.
