AVI AVITAL / KSENIJA SIDOROVA

Fritz Kreisler initially cheekily attributed his pastiche Praeludium and Allegro to the Italian baroque composer he was imitating, Gaetano Pugnani. Published in 1910, its passagework lends itself beautifully to this concert’s transcription. As do the three Russian folk-inspired pieces from the Suite italienne Stravinsky transcribed in 1932 for cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, of themes from his ballet, Pulcinella. Following the bright introduction comes a melancholy Serenata, then a racing Tarantella which in the original featured virtuosic pizzicato. Avid folk song collector Bartók’s Six Romanian Folk Dances, published in 1915, begin with a dignified stick dance for men, then progress through a flirtatious couples’ sash dance, an on-the-spot stamping dance, a sultry horn dance, and two further fast dances, the first a polka. De Falla’s six Spanish folk songs of the previous year imitated the guitar in their original piano accompaniment. Villa Lobos’s famous Bachiana Brasilieras series meanwhile fused his native Brazil’s folk music with the style of Bach, No. 5 scored for soprano and eight cellos. It’s equally Spain being honoured in Saint-Saëns’s Introduction and Rondo capriccioso, composed in 1863 for his virtuoso violinist friend, Pablo de Sarasate.