The Hallé (Sheffield International Concert Season 2023/2024)

In the first of two appearances in Sheffield in his final season as Music Director of the Hallé, Sir Mark Elder conducts a colourful programme featuring some of his favourite works.

The first half of the concert is dedicated to music for fantasy and fairy-tales. Glittering orchestral hues and melodies steeped in Russian folksong are a hallmark of Rimsky-Korsakov, both apparent in the suite from his fanciful opera, The Tale of Tsar Saltan.

Ravel’s Mother Goose started life as children’s piano pieces, before the composer turned it into an orchestral suite. In the complete ballet music, the scenario weaves around the tale of Sleeping Beauty, with Ravel composing additional music for her. She dreams of Tom Thumb and Beauty and the Beast, amongst others, until Prince Charming awakens her with a kiss.

Sir Mark brings his commended Brahms symphony cycle to a close, performing the Fourth Symphony with the smaller number of strings that the composer himself called for, recreating the breath-taking clarity he would have known.