A coffin on a gondola, a ballet dancer with no pants on, an anti-patriarchy show, a royal scandal and a Russian peasant wedding ceremony - this and more, as well as tons of great music in our longest episode so far.

And here is a list of the people mentioned in the episode:

• Adam, Adolphe

The world's most difficult solo piano piece and its nationalist antisemitic author are the hot topic of this episode. Is it all that simple though?..

After 2 years of silence, Pizzicato Ost returns with a second season. This introduction episode presents the concept and the idea of the new season.

We continue talking about the great piano suite, where babbling French ladies mix with an even old witch, and a gate is wearing a helmet...

https://spoti.fi/2P94ffW

The most orchestral of all piano works, a piece that has inspired so many great musicians, Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an exhibition" is our topic for two episodes.

Composed as an homage to the composer's close friend, artist Victor Hartmann, the work brings his paintings and sketches to life.

Russian, Polish, French, Jewish motifs are all mixed in this suite for piano solo.

The recording used in this show is this one:

https://spoti.fi/3rm5reb

"Here you have a sonata that will be a hard nut to crack; pianists will grit their teeth from it for another 50 years". 200 years later, pianists still grit their teeth from Beethoven's Hammerklavier sonata, and it stays quite a hard nut to crack!

A few recordings to check out:

https://spoti.fi/3k5hUQy

https://spoti.fi/2OLydX5 (part 6)

https://spoti.fi/2NOlYsA

Bizet's bright and dazzling suites for orchestra (Carmen, L'Arlesienne, and Jeux d'enfants) are full of energy, the spirit of Provence and Spain. Here, they are played by the Orchestre de la Bastille (orchestra of the Paris opera) with their chief conductor at the time, Myung-Whun Chung.

We tell about the circumstances when the works were created, in the last years of the composer's life, and also mention Gounod, Liszt, Lully, Berlioz, and many other great names. A short review of the scandal surrounding the opening of the Opera Bastille in 1989 is also part of this episode.

https://spoti.fi/2ZfNDoK

One of Schumann's intimate and diverse piano cycles "Phantasiestücke" involves emotional states of his imaginary characters Florestan and Eusebius, and has appeared as a means of provoking jealousy.

Recordings recommended in the end of the episode:

https://spoti.fi/3rqNydN

https://spoti.fi/3aDN0KS

https://spoti.fi/3cZ6a0H

The great musical friendship between two legendary 20th century musicians, composer and pianist Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich (1927-2007), has enriched the world with some fine examples of music. We are also lucky to have this wonderful recording, showing the joy of music making by these two brilliant men.

https://spoti.fi/36sVROi

Today we talk about how a Polish man turned Ukrainian military leader has inspired great artists for great works. We discuss the appearance of the symphonic poem as a genre, and one of its founders Ferenc Liszt. Along the way, we will also mention Pushkin, Mendelssohn, Weber, and many more great names.

Victor Hugo's poem Mazeppa:

https://bit.ly/3o91cjF