Anna Rakitina conductor
Jess Dandy contralto
Smetana Má vlast – ‘Vltava’
Perry Stabat mater
Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 in D minor
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.
Artwork by Tylonn J. Sawyer