Dmitri Shostakovich, prizewinner composition of the competition 3'33''
Conductor: Marcus Bosch
Violoncello: Alban Gerhardt
Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock
DmitriShostakovich: Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra No. 2 op. 126 / Symphony No. 8 in C minor op. 65
Encore: Prize-winning composition from the competition 3'33''Alban Gerhardt, one of the leading cellists of our time, accepted the Rostock invitation and promises an extraordinary concert event with his technical perfection and profound musicality. The versatile artist will perform the 2nd Cello Concerto by Dmitri Shostakovich, which was intended as an ironic response
to the double standards of the Soviet functionaries who denounced him during Stalin's lifetime and later courted him. Written for Mstislav Rostropovich, the concerto was premiered with the legendary cellist in Moscow on September 25, 1966 to mark the composer's 60th birthday.
Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8, composed in 1943 after the victorious Battle of Stalingrad, was actually expected to be a work of great triumph. But he composed music of pain, grief and despair, which was also intended for the victims of Stalin's totalitarian regime. Although the drama of the Eighth ties in with its symphonic predecessor, the famous Leningrad, it ends morendo (extinguished) without a grand final apotheosis.
For the third time, there will be the world premiere of an encore for orchestra: the prize-winning composition of the competition Encore 3'33'', which chief conductor Marcus Bosch initiated together with the hmt Rostock.
