Imagination with Ravel and Mussorgsky

Ravel was a master orchestrator, transcribing his piano suite Ma mère l’Oye for the orchestra and creating a masterpiece in the process. The series of musical miniatures, which is based on the 17th- century fairytales of Mother Goose, attests to his incredible imagination. But we also owe the magnificent orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an exhibition to Ravel. The composer succeeded in connecting the pictures with the music in the most virtuoso way: note how the Grand Gate of Kiev opens with the sound of bells ringing. The imagination of the Georgian composer Aleksi Machavariani is also a great match with the

two aforementioned works. His Violin Concerto (1949), which will be performed on this occasion by the Turkish-Georgian violinist Veriko Tchumburidze, is both lively and extremely lyrical. Give your imagination free rein as you listen to this magnificent music.