★★★★½ Robertson delivers a tale well told, whichever way you look at it.

Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
March 2, 2016

“It was said that [Scheherazade] had collected a thousand books of histories relating to antique races and departed rulers. She had perused the works of the poets and knew them by heart; she had studied philosophy and the sciences, arts and accomplishments; and she was pleasant and polite, wise and witty, well read and well bred.” So said Sir Richard Burton in his famous translation of the 1001 Nights. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov took some of that and ran with it in Scheherazade, his symphonic poem in four movements depicting the siren voice of the storyteller as she tricks her domineering, bloodthirsty husband into letting her live just one more night in order to hear how the latest page-turner comes out. John Adams, on the other hand, sees her as more of a legendary feminist icon; a woman for all times confronting, challenging and ultimately escaping male prejudices through the medium of a four movement violin concerto aptly named Scheherazade.2. Programming them back to back is a great way to reflect on such themes as well as the developments in...