Roberto Abbado / Violeta Urmana by Berlioz, Mussorgsky, No (2014/2014), Diriģents Roberto Abbado, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Florence, Italy

The two compositions by Hector Berlioz that open the evening, Tristia and La Mort de Cléopâtre, are two early works in which are clearly outlined the funeral themes dear to the author: from Ophelia's Death and Funeral March for the last scene of Hamlet in Tristia, to La Mort de Cléopâtre, where the Egyptian queen invokes the shadows of the great pharaohs to give her the strength to commit suicide. Pictures at an Exhibition, by Modest Mussorgsky, is the most famous work by the Russian composer: originally composed for piano, and later orchestrated by Maurice Ravel, it is a series of ten suites inspired by ten paintings of an exhibition at the Russian Academy of Fine Arts, interspersed by five promenades, the walk from one painting to the next which creates the thematic link.