When do you want to have heard something? When a piece is still being played after hundreds of years? When it gets nothing but rave reviews? Or precisely when a work is controversial?

In the case of Rimsky-Korsakov's Sheherazade all of the above. It is rightly one of his most popular works: seductive violin solos; compelling drama; grand denouements interspersed with intimate moments - Sheherazade is like an extremely good book that you read in one sitting.

With One Thousand and One Nights as the inspiration for Sheherazade, there is also a side note today. For at the end of the nineteenth century, the enormous interest in the Middle and Far East resulted in artistic impressions that, despite the best intentions, in reality had nothing to do with the cultures from which they drew inspiration. Such was the case with Sheherazade.