Afternoon Concert

RADIO 3, 2.00PM

 There’s enough gaudy infatuation, avarice, and greed in today’s concert to fill a Martin Scorsese movie. It’s a gripping performance of Prokovief ’s The Gambler, recorded at the Vienna State Opera earlier this year under the baton of conductor Simone Young. The story – based on Dostoyevsky’s autobiographical novel of the same name – is set in the fictional German town of Roulettenburg, where a clique of strange characters has assembled, all lusting after money, success and physical affection. Things do not go well.