Last but not least

Towards the end of his eventful life as a composer, Dmitri Shostakovich once again sets out to write a symphony, his fifteenth by now. It is bound to be his last, as the seriously ill Russian is fully aware of. Still, his decision stands: »I would like to write a cheerful symphony.« And indeed, his final symphonic endeavour begins with a twinkle in the eye, mischievously orchestrated. But by the second movement, the mood has already changed, and movement by movement, the score turns into what seems like a musical biography. A painful chorale, moments of eerie trembling, and sharp irony – Shostakovich creates a musical review of his own oeuvre and the horrors of his era. His life as an artist is still marked by panic, even though two decades have gone by since Stalin’s death. Thus it is not surprising that Shostakovich’s sense of humour, essential for survival, keeps drifting towards the grotesque and becomes terrifying. At the end, you can almost hear death itself coming towards you, bones rattling.

The fifth and last piano concerto by Ludwig van Beethoven also reflects the political turmoil of the era. No tranquility to compose in early 1809. Instead: the sounds of war, gunfire, and Napoleon just outside of Vienna. Even though the first movement is marked by triumphant pathos, the weighty subtitle Emperor describes but a single facet of this extraordinary piano concerto which includes one of the most heavenly and tender slow movements Beethoven ever wrote: A dream sequence, far from this world, a divine melody that Leonard Bernstein later borrowed for his heart-wrenching Somewhere in the West Side Story. Without further ado, and using the effect of surprise he is known for, Beethoven charges into the finale which features a few innovative particularities: a duet for solo piano and timpani, for example, resembling a distant memory of the drums of war. The Gürzenich Orchestra looks forward to this musical adventure, and to two living legends: Eliahu Inbal as conductor, born 1936 in Jerusalem, and the magnificent Elisabeth Leonskaja at the piano.