Download Andris Nelsons conducts Shostakovich

Symphony No. 5
Andris Nelsons
conducts Shostakovich
CONCERT I
The 2014/2015 season, Andris Nelsons is leading the RCO in three programmes, all featuring
symphonies by Dmitry Shostakovich. The Fifth Symphony was presented as a public penance in
1937, when the composer had been rebuked by the Communist regime for producing music that
failed to reflect Soviet ideals. Juxtaposed with Shostakovich’s dramatic symphony is the Oboe
Concerto by Richard Strauss, who was born 150 years ago. This melodic work is dominated by
nostalgia for a world that was lost forever, Strauss having written it towards the end of his life
shortly after the Second World War. With the Nocturne by Marius Flothuis, the Royal
Concertgebouw Orchestra is commemorating not only a composer – Flothuis also served as the
orchestra’s artistic director for many years.
Flothuis: Nocturne op. 77 – Strauss: Oboe Concerto – Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra / Alexei Ogrintchouk, Oboe
CONCERT II
Andris Nelsons continues his Shostakovich series with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with
the Fourth Symphony. This complex symphony of gigantic proportions was written during the
period when Dmitry Shostakovich had been relegated from the status of a national hero to that of
a potential enemy of the state by Stalin. When rehearsals for the Fourth proved disastrous,
Shostakovich decided to withdraw the work. Even today, though, the Fourth Symphony is
performed relatively rarely, perhaps because of the great challenge it poses to both conductor and
orchestra. Before the interval, the RCO’s very own principal violinist Liviu Prunaru and its principal
cellist Gregor Horsch will excel in Brahms’s Double Concerto, his final orchestral work.
Brahms: Double Concerto in A minor, for violin, cello & orchestra – Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra / Gregor Horsch, Cello & Liviu Prunaru, Violin
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