The Funeral Song that Stravinsky composed in memory of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was played for the first and last time more than a hundred years ago, in 1909. It was thought that the score had been hopelessly lost, perhaps destroyed during the Revolution of 1917 or in the subsequent civil war. However, the manuscripts finally emerged at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 2015, when hope of retrieving this piece composed before The Firebird was almost nil. Its premiere in Portugal is part of a programme also marked by the first performance with the Gulbenkian Orchestra of British pianist prodigy Benjamin Grosvenor.

Gulbenkian Orchestra
Lawrence Foster Conductor
Benjamin Grosvenor Piano

Igor Stravinsky
Funeral Song, op. 5 (Portugal Premiere)

Edvard Grieg
Piano Concerto in A minor, op. 16

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Shéhérazade, op. 35