London Symphony Orchestra: Prokofiev, Mussorgsky, Shostakovich

The past and contemporary, romance and sarcasm, all meet in this concert, as Gianandrea Noseda conducts music by Russian composers who reached back in history to say something new.

For his first symphony, Prokofiev – in characteristic style – decided to do the opposite of what was expected of him. Instead of capturing the turbulence of Revolutionary Russia, he made Haydn and Mozart his muses, writing a work that fizzes with wit, light, and play. We hear Prokofiev in a more romantic mood in his First Violin Concerto and step back into Russian history for Mussorgsky’s Prelude to Khovanschina, which evokes a city awakening as dawn breaks over the Moscow River.

For Noseda, the Ninth is ‘Shostakovich at his most ‘classical’, but a modern statement nonetheless. ‘Stalin wanted a celebration of the victory of Russia, and Shostakovich came out with a sort of opera buffa symphony,’ he says. ‘Short, witty, lots of sarcasm. I can really feel his wish to go against what was expected of him.’

Programme

Prokofiev
Symphony No 1, Classical
Violin Concerto No 1
Mussorgsky Prelude to Khovanshchina
Shostakovich Symphony No 9

Performers

Gianandrea Noseda conductor
Roman Simovic violin
London Symphony Orchestra