Night On Bald Mountain & Gavrylyuk Plays Grieg by Pejačević, Mussorgsky, Grieg, From (2023/2023), Conductor Jader Bignamini, Orchestra Hall, Detroit, United States

Eerie strings, careening woodwinds, and foreboding brass portray a witches’ sabbath in Mussorgsky’s tone poem, expertly arranged after the composer’s death by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Grieg’s Piano Concerto opens with a famous and forceful descending motif before exploring melodic ideas influenced by the folk music of the composer’s native Norway. Dora Pejačević, a member of a Croatian noble family, broke gender barriers in classical music in the early 20th Century; her magnificent Symphony in F-sharp minor concludes this concert.