Jurowski conducts Shostakovich

To mark the anniversary of the composer’s death, Dmitri Jurowski conducts Dmitri Shostakovich in a programme of two popular pieces by the great Russian composer at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona. Shostakovich made his name in Soviet-era Russia when his First Symphony, which premiered in 1926, was regarded by many as a great success. This programme includes his Cello Concerto No. 2, Op. 126, which came much later in his career, and his Symphony No. 15 in A major, Op. 141, from just a few years before the composer's passing in 1975. Both pieces are conducted by Jurowski, a renowned conductor who was born in Moscow some four years after Shostakovich had died.
The moving Second Cello Concerto commences proceedings. It debuted on 25 September 1966 in Moscow as part of Shostakovich's 60th birthday celebrations for which a concert was organised. The concerto begins with a solo cello in the first movement before other stringed instruments get in on the action. Things soon take a dramatic turn in the first movement, however, when the solo cello player is called upon to play a cadenza. The spirited second movement is based on a song from Crimea where the composer was living during the concerto's composition. Another cello cadenza is called for in the final movement but not until after some dramatic French horn fanfares have been played which give this part of the music a very distinctive sound.
The ensuing Fifteenth Symphony is scored for a modestly sized orchestra and consists of four movements. Shostakovich wrote it in what has often been described as a neo-classical style, often reflecting the music of Haydn and Mozart among others. It was first performed at the Moscow Conservatoire by the Soviet Radio Orchestra on 8 January 1972 under the baton of the composer's own son, Maxim. For many, this reflective piece is a summation of Shostakovich's compositional career, perhaps hinting that he knew, when writing it, that he did not have many years left.
Dmitri Jurowski, another descendant of a distinctly musical Russian family, has served as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra as well as the General Music Director of the Flemish Opera Antwerp and Ghent. He has performed, conducted and directed all over Europe.
This short concert series, Jurowski Conducts Shostakovich, offers a chance to hear some of the composer's best later work with a superb orchestra and conductor in a venue that is ideally suited to such a programme.