Robert Trevino Conducts Shostakovich

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra begins its 2019/20 season with atmospheric Russian music from Mussorgsky, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich.

We open with Mussorgsky’s Introduction from his unfinished opera Khovanshchina.

The composer sets a cold morning scene with shimmering strings in Russia’s capital.

Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.3 continues with impressionistic imagery, in flourishing pianistic displays of melodic passion and sensitivity.

Shostakovich’s Symphony No.5, written in mid-1937 when Stalin’s paranoia and insecurity were at a fever pitch, proved a triumph for the composer, much to his relief.
There is tangible anxiety felt in all sections during the first movement, especially in the strings, which develops in tone to form an invigorating final movement, lauded by his contemporaries for fulfilling a militaristic Soviet ideal.

Whether Shostakovich truly capitulated to the demands of the era remains debated to this day.

Programme

Mussorgsky Khovanshchina Prelude to Act 1 (Dawn over the Moscow River) orch. Shostakovich

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.3

– interval –

Shostakovich Symphony No.5 in D minor

Performers

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Robert Trevino conductor
Alexei Volodin piano