Berlioz – Overture: La Corsaire
Elgar – Cello Concerto (Soloist – Gethyn Jones)
Shostakovich – 10th Symphony in E Minor
In this concert, the music in our first half celebrates anniversaries of two different kinds. Our brilliant overture celebrates the 150th anniversary of Hector Berlioz’ death in 1869, and Edward Elgar’s justly famous and much-loved ‘cello concerto, was written one hundred years ago this year. Thirty-three years after Beatrice Harrison gave that 1st performance, Dmitri Shostakovitch completed his 10th Symphony, shortly after Joseph Stalin’s death. With his death, came a relaxation of, if not an end, to, the repression that he had exerted on Soviet artists. As the symphony progresses, that relaxation becomes more apparent.