BBC Proms (1947) : 46x8

The young German pianist Lars Vogt plays Grieg's popular Piano Concerto in A minor in tonight's Prom, recorded last week. The BBC Symphony Orchestra performs Hypothetically Murdered - a witty and satirical piece written by Shostakovich for a bizarre vaudeville extravaganza at the Leningrad Music Hall in 1931. Says conductor Mark Elder: "The full score was lost in the siege of Leningrad but Rozhdestvensky found some piano sketches and gave them to composer Gerard McBurney to orchestrate. We tend to think of Shostakovich as the anguished Soviet voice under Stalin but here he's a sort of Russian Offenbach, full of flair, fun and satire. This is a classic Proms item." Introduced by James Naughtie.