Concertgebouworkest Young / Julia Hagen / Elim Chan

Elgar’s Cello Concerto, composed in the picturesque Sussex countryside, is deeply personal. Known for his grand patriotic works, Elgar instead pours out his sorrow in this work, prompted by his wife’s grave illness and the lingering grief for the victims of World War I. At the same time, his final work for orchestra stands as a grand farewell to his illustrious career as a composer.

Also on the programme is Shostakovich’s gripping Fifth Symphony, a work filled with emotion, composed under the constant fear of repression by the Stalin regime. At first glance – or upon first hearing – the music is stirring, the slow movement incredibly beautiful. And yet it is the musical subtext that has made this work so famous: anger and despair seethe beneath the final triumphant march, while sarcasm resonates throughout the ballet-like third movement.