Tschechische Philharmonie / Víkingur Ólafsson / Semyon Bychkov
Schumann / Schostakowitsch
Russian history set to music
Appearances are deceptive and the straightforward surface is revealed to be ambiguous – in other words: classic Shostakovich. His Eleventh Symphony has an explicit programme, a retelling in four movements of the 1905 workers’ rebellion, which was brutally quelled by Tsarist military forces. The tension outside the palace, the power of the Tsars, the roar of the guns and the euphoria of the workers – all of that can be heard in the music. And much more besides. Because wasn’t this also a critique of the present-day Soviet system, which caused the composer so much suffering his entire life?
Schumann’s only piano concerto provides a stark contrast – with the gifted hands of the Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson revealing the arc of suspense running through the work.
Performers
Tschechische Philharmonie
Víkingur Ólafsson piano
conductor Semyon Bychkov
Programme
Robert Schumann
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in A minor, Op. 54
– Interval –
Dmitri Schostakowitsch
Sinfonie Nr. 11 g-Moll op. 103 »Das Jahr 1905«
Subscription
International Orchestras