A Response to Criticism? by Pergolesi, Smetana, Shostakovich, 周六 02 3月 2024, 从 (2024/2024), 导体 Anna Rakitina, The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, United Kingdom

Controversy or conundrum? Or both? The centrepiece of this concert is Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony. This music walks a tightrope between artistic integrity and political acceptance from Stalin. The piece wavers between despair and parody – heart-rending strings, bleak emotional landscapes, triumphant brass. Compliance or defiance? It’s up to you to decide. National pride bursts out of Smetana’s tone poem, Vltava. Bohemia’s great river gets a cinematic makeover as we travel from its source to the city of Prague, by way of his beloved Czech countryside (passing mermaids bathed in moonlight, a wedding party, and the St John Rapids on the way). Later, we visit the sound of pastoral America with the distinctive voice of Julia Perry, a cosmopolitan composer who fuses the classical style with the sounds of her African American heritage. Contralto Jess Dandy returns to perform one of Perry’s most cherished scores, her Stabat Mater