All the Russias: A Musical Journey S01 E01 The Little Birch Tree

In this first programme, Valery Gergiev takes us into the heart of the Russian countryside. Over the centuries, the traditions of folk culture have been an assertion of the Russian identity and the melodies of the countryside can be found everywhere in Russian classical music from Glinka and Tchaikovsky to Stravinsky and the present day. Filmed largely in the remote countryside this is an evocation of Russia's rural heart and a search for the origins of the Russian folk-song that is at the core of all Russian music.