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Glinka and Mussorgsky made Russian music glitter with the colours of a Fabergé egg; a century later in the Soviet Union, Dmitri Shostakovich is said to have lamented a life turned grey. But there are few more gripping documents of that life than his First Violin Concerto; a brooding political thriller of a piece, with a core of raw emotion - the award-winning Moscow-born violinist Boris Brovtsyn grew up immersed in its world. Opening with a rare performance of Glinka’s ballroom romance, Vassily Sinaisky brings the concert to a triumphant close with Mussorgsky’s fantastic musical picture gallery.

Prelude: 2.00pm (free to ticket-holders)
Peter Nelson from the University of Edinburgh introduces the featured works.