We first hear Lyadov's short tone-poem, Baba Yaga, based on one of the most famous witches in Slavic folklore and a popular (if not terrifying!) figure in children’s fairy-tales, and Aleksey Semenenko is the violin in Chausson’s darkly coloured ±Ê´Çè³¾±ð, generally considered to be the composer’s best-known and most-loved work.
To end, Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances. Written only three years before his death, it pulses with exhilarating rhythmic energy and journeys from a passionate Allegro to a ferocious dance of death.
