Grzegorz Nowak leads the orchestra in performances of Shostakovich Piano Concerto No 2 and Shostakovich Symphony No 5

Shostakovich (arr. Barshai) Chamber Symphony  
Shostakovich Piano Concerto No 2
Shostakovich Symphony No 5

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Grzegorz Nowak conductor
Natasha Paremski piano

Please note: This concert was originally advertised as being conducted by Maxim Shostakovich. We regret that Maxim Shostakovich is unwell and has been hospitalised in Moscow with heart problems. We are enormously grateful to Grzegorz Nowak for taking his place at such short notice. The programme remains unchanged.

Shostakovich actually wrote the first work of this evening’s programme for his son’s 19th birthday in 1957. Unlike many of Shostakovich’s other works, this is a very upbeat piece. The first movement quotes the sea shanty Drunken Sailor whilst the last movement is a dance with lots of scalic passages – a joke for the graduating piano student.

Written twenty years earlier, Shostakovich wrote his fifth symphony following his highly criticised opera, Lady Macbeth, and the ballet, The Limpid Stream, which were considered too complex. His music had been banned by Stalin and he was under pressure to please a government he detested. Nevertheless, Symphony No 5 is said to have had a forty minute standing ovation after its first performance.

"Through his music I can recognise all his anger and all his tenderness. It's like hearing his different phrases as he spoke; through his music I can hear his voice. He never dies for me, because of this." Maxim Shostakovich on his father, Dmitri Shostakovich

This concert will finish at approximately 9.30pm

Pre-concert talk 6.45pm
Albert Room
Brian Newbould discusses the evening’s works.
Entry is free to ticket-holders for the concert but space is limited so please arrive early to avoid disappointment.

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