Shostakovich / Dvořák, F. Ommassini
The Teatro Filarmonico di Verona stages a programme of superb orchestral music featuring works by two greats of 19th and 20th-century composition, Dmitri Shostakovich and Antonín Dvořák. The programme opens with a rendition of Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op 77, followed by the ever-popular Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op 95, by Dvořák – commonly known as From the New World Symphony. The highly respected Francesco Ommassini conducts the Orchestra della Fondazione Arena di Verona, an ensemble that has a superb reputation for its top-class musicianship.
As a Russian composer, Shostakovich produced much of his work during the Soviet era. This partly accounts for why the First Violin Concerto's premiere was so significantly delayed. The great maestro completed the work in 1948. However, it was not until 29 October 1955 that it was first performed at a concert given by the, then, Leningrad Philharmonic. The Soviet cultural commissar, Andrei Zhdanov, led a notable series of attacks on Shostakovich's work in the period after the concerto's completion. Consequently, the composer felt it would have caused him significant problems had the work been presented publicly. It was not until the Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, died in 1953 that the cultural atmosphere in the country changed and Shostakovich felt he could proceed with the concerto. It is split into four movements, including a klezmer-like section of music which has a lively, danceable tempo. The fourth movement returns to A minor before shifting to a more confident A major finale.
Dvořák's From the New World Symphony is one of the most-performed symphonic works in the modern orchestral repertoire. It was composed from 10 January to 24 May 1893 and was first performed on 16 December 1893 at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The Bohemian composer was living and working in the United States at the time and this piece represents many of Dvořák's reflections on North American culture of the period. In the symphony, Dvořák managed to combine elements of Romanticism and Old-World music, including some Slavonic dance rhythms, with some melodies that certain musicologists have noted resemble spirituals and folk songs of the African American South. With his Symphony No. 9, the composer set a new standard for what a symphony could be, inspiring many who would follow his lead.
Francesco Ommassini was born in Venice, where he graduated with honours in Violin and Composition. From 1996, he has served as a violinist with the Orchestra della Fondazione Arena di Verona, often working closely with great conductors as first violin. Since 2024, he has been Artistic Secretary of the Fondazione Arena. The following year, Ommassini made his debut at the nearby Verona Arena, conducting productions of both Aida and La Traviata. With a talented maestro taking the baton, this performance of Shostakovich / Dvořák at Verona's Teatro Filarmonico provides soaring musicality with pieces that have continued to delight audiences for many years.