Alexander Scriabin: Rêverie for orchestra, Op.24
Dmitry Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No.1
Interval
Sergey Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky - cantata
(concert performance in Russian with English surtitles)

Jakub Hrusa conducts Scriabin's Reverie, Shostakovich's Violin Concerto with Frank Peter Zimmerman and Prokofiev's emotional Cantata, Alexander Nevsky with mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Semenchuk.

The two main works in tonight's high-impact programme come from opposite ends of the musical spectrum. Shostakovich's dark and despairing First Violin Concerto had to be hidden away until after Stalin's death in 1953 for fear of reprisals from the Soviet Thought Police, who wanted only positivist flag-wavers that glorified the Motherland.

This is exactly what Prokofiev provided with his cantata adapted from his music to Eisenstein's film Alexander Nevsky, which, following a breathtaking battle on the frozen wastes, climaxes in Alexander riding triumphantly into Pskov. The proletariat lapped it up and Stalin gave it his seal of approval, but unsurprisingly Shostakovich was less than impressed.

Performers

Philharmonia Orchestra
Jakub Hrusa conductor
Anna Stéphany mezzo-soprano
Frank Peter Zimmermann violin
Philharmonia Voices