Gewandhausorchester, Semyon Bychkov: Shostakovich, Strauss at Gewandhaus
About the Event
In Leipzig's beloved Gewandhaus, hear the Gewandhaus Orchestra and violinist Karen Gomyo under the baton of Semyon Bychkov for a captivating performance of masterworks by Shostakovich and Strauss.
A great orchestral work was written during a dark period of Shostakovich's life: the 1st Violin Concerto.
The opening movement is a night piece. Broodingly, low strings, bassoon, contrabassoon and the moon‐pale bass clarinet circle around a thought. Against this dark background of sound, the solo violin stands out brightly celesta notes shine like twinkling stars. The rapid scherzo in second place was described by the premiere violinist and dedicatee David Oistrakh as a demonic dance of despair. Shostakovich, a Bach admirer, fashioned the 3rd movement as a passacaglia. The soloist hardly has a break in this concerto. She plays not a voice, but a role. She celebrates her solitude in the endlessly long cadenza.
The Alpine Symphony by the enthusiastic mountaineer and Nietzsche reader Richard Strauss also begins and ends in the nocturnal fog. Between the symbolic ascent and the turbulent descent in a thunderstorm, the music provides sublime summit moments of overwhelming radiance.
Practical Information
Due to its history, the Gewandhaus Orchestra stands for civic engagement in a special way. With a view to the challenges of the present and the community‐building, inspiring and transformative potential of music, it has launched a democracy initiative in 2022. On pressing issues of justice, resources, media, institutions, education, identity, resilience and faith, public and cultural figures engage in dialogue with each other, with the audience and with musical performances.
'Resonance' is the motto above the musically inspired, culturally initiated discussion of basic values, understanding of democracy and social togetherness. We invite you to join in the discussion at round tables and to experimentally explore and musically experience political, sociological, acoustic and interpersonal facets of resonance in workshops and performances. Inspired by musical artworks, we open spaces for voices of the present and for ideas that strengthen the common good — in exchange between all those who want to help shape society.
