Once upon a time...Russia was always a land of storytellers. Why would its composers be any different? Today Ryan Wigglesworth opens that storybook and shares what comes out. There’s a witch in a hut with hen’s legs, and a lake that might harbour supernatural beings, or a whole lost city (anything’s possible in the magical sound-world of Prokofiev’s teacher Anatoly Lyadov). Things take a turn for the macabre and Death rides a general’s horse, as soprano Sophie Bevan sings Mussorgsky’s blackly comic songs. And then it’s over to Tchaikovsky, and a symphony of sorrow, joy and simply glorious melodies. “With desire and passion” wrote Tchaikovsky on the score of his Fifth Symphony, and you’re about to hear why.

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