In this episode, we bring you excerpts of a concert held by the NHK Symphony Orchestra where it gave a complete performance of the Nutcracker. Russian maestro Vladimir Fedoseyev took the baton. He has performed with the NHK Symphony Orchestra several times, often taking up Russian music, since he led the orchestra for the first time in 2013. In the excerpts, you will hear, Overture, Divertissements: Chocolate (Spanish Dance), Coffee (Arabian Dance), Tea (Chinese Dance), Trepak (Russian Dance), Dance of the Reed-Pipes, Mother Gigogne and the clowns and (XIII) Waltz of the Flowers, (XIV) Pas de deux, Intrada, Variation 1 Tarantelle, Variation 2 Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy, Coda and (XV) Waltz Finale and Apotheosis. Explore the world of the Nutcracker created by Fedoseyev.

In this episode, we bring you some of the orchestra music from Der Ring des Nibelungen by Wilhelm Richard Wagner, which is often performed independently. The NHK Symphony Orchestra's chief conductor Paavo Jarvi took the baton. Paavo selected the music himself and performed it in a completely different order from the opera so the music could tell its story on its own. You will hear: The Valkyrie, Ride of the Valkyries, Siegfried, Forest Murmurs, Twilight of the Gods, Siegfried's Death and Funeral March, Dawn and Siegfried's Rhine Journey, The Rhine Gold and Entrance of the Gods in Valhalla. You will know what Paavo was trying to achieve with the performance.

We've chosen Brahms' Symphony No. 1 for the last day of this season. His first symphony took Brahms over 20 years from sketches to finishing touches. The masterpiece is the result of serious deliberations he made as he sought to surpass Beethoven, a great composer who left his mark on the history of the symphony, and produce something that would succeed his works. NHK Symphony Orchestra's Honorary Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt took the baton. Enjoy the performance by the maestro and the orchestra who have built a relationship of trust through 30 years' experiences of working together.