Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | The Tale of Tsar Saltan: Suite, Op.57

Sir Mark Elder conducts colourful music by Rimsky-Korsakov and Ravel before a low-fat, unsentimental Brahms 4. 

Tracing a line of musical heritage was what this concert was all about: the imaginative richness of inspiration that passed from Rimsky-Korsakov through early Rachmaninov to Stravinsky.

Think of a poet irresistibly teasing your senses by his creative use of rhythm, his unpredictable style of speech and his unfailing imagination.

Deeply moving and often terrifyingly dark, Gergiev and the Mariinsky took us on a devastating ride towards the abyss which eventually left me grabbing for a rope.

In this second Mariinsky concert Kristóf Baráti was a fine but miscast soloist in Stravinsky’s violin concerto, with rich narrative pickings from Rimsky-Korsakov and his illustrious pupil.