Flying the Flag: Images of Russia

An all-Russian programme, in both programme and soloists. At its centrepiece are scenes from Mussorgsky's dark-hued opera Boris Godunov with star baritone Sergei Leiferkus.

Night on a Bare Mountain is one of those pieces which hi-fi shops use to impress customers, but it is of course better with no hi-fi in the way - live. It's an explosive start to tonight's programme which concludes with Tchaikovsky's First Symphony, a work inspired by Russian life and folk music of which the composer himself said was 'better than any of my other more mature works'.