Double duty is a recurring theme in two exciting Seattle Symphony Orchestra programs this week and next.

Beginning this weekend, guest conductor Roberto Abbado, immersed in an exceptionally busy season crisscrossing the Atlantic to symphony and opera halls all over Europe and North America, will enjoy a brief residency in Seattle.

Friday through Sunday, Abbado, 57, will lead SSO in a bill capped by Ravel's orchestral arrangement of Mussorgsky's 1874 piano suite "Pictures at an Exhibition." Seattle Symphony principal trumpet David Gordon will shine twice, playing the lead among glorious brass parts in "Pictures" as well as the solo in André Jolivet's 1948 Concertino for Trumpet.

Also in the lineup is Stravinsky's 1944 Scherzo à la Russe for orchestra, and Haydn's 1791 Symphony No. 93 in D major.

Frequently described as a compelling and lyrical orchestral leader, Abbado, son of Milan Conservatory head Marcello Abbado and nephew of conductor Claudio Abbado, returns for more next week — Feb. 16-18 — with a different program anchored by Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major and German pianist Lars Vogt.

Friday's program, however, is a reconstituted marriage of both Abbado shows, tailored for SSO's Rush Hour series, which makes use of shorter bills, no intermissions and earlier exits. That one-night-only program skips the Beethoven piece but retains Schubert and Berio's "Rendering" along with Schumann's 1851 Symphony No. 4 in D minor and the Jolivet from this week's performance.

That's a lot of music to talk about, and a brief conversation with Abbado, recently reached at home in his native Milan, Italy, as he's headed out the door, leads to lively but quick, impressionistic comments.

"The 'Pictures' show will cover a variety of styles," Abbado says.

"The Stravinsky and Jolivet pieces are both angular. The Stravinsky is jazzy and rhythmical, while the Jolivet is beautiful and modernistic.

"I'm particularly happy to be conducting that unknown jewel."

As for Haydn, Abbado notes the composer's Symphony No. 94 might be the one known as the "Surprise" Symphony (for the sudden appearance of a strong, fortissimo chord in a quiet, piano theme). But No. 93, he says, "can surprise even more. It's an unknown masterwork with a charged style and atmosphere."

Mussorgsky's well-known "Pictures at an Exhibition," originally written for solo piano, musically depicts an imaginary tour of a gallery exhibit of watercolors and drawings by artist and architect Viktor Hartmann, who died in 1873 at age 39.

"It's a deep and profound tribute to Mussorgsky's friendship with Hartmann," says Abbado, "a sort of letter to him."

Abbado briefly describes next week's Schumann symphony as "explosive, intimate and poetic at the same time. Schumann was both Romantic and revolutionary."

But the maestro takes a longer moment to dig into the fascinating story of "Rendering," which draws upon motifs and quotes from Schubert's music to fill holes in the composer's unfinished, final work.

"Schubert started composing it in the last weeks of his life in 1828, leaving sketches with many gaps. Berio took those sketches and used a technique similar to one for restoring frescoes. He didn't try to finish it, but he filled the emptiness with imagination, walking in a fog from one Schubert piece to another and creating echoes. You can feel Schubert appearing and disappearing in a beautiful way."

Tom Keogh: tomwkeogh@gmail.com