Concertgebouw Orchestra and Karina Canellakis: Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5

Karina Canellakis conducts Shostakovich

Karina Canellakis and Shostakovich are the ultimate dream combination. The conductor has secured a firm place for herself in Dutch musical life, partly due to her varied programmes. She also has a special flair for Shostakovich. The Fifth Symphony is one of his most ambiguous works, written in the darkest years under Stalin. Artistic nonconformity was mercilessly punished, and the composer was under a magnifying glass. As a result of these circumstances, Shostakovich had to walk a clever tightrope. The symphony was exactly what the regime wanted to hear, but is also full of covert criticism. When does a heroic march become a caricature? Canellakis brings out all these subtle details.

Alina Ibragimova plays Mozart

Darkness also reigns in the Swedish-Russian composer Victoria Borisova-Ollas’s The Kingdom of Silence, in which she makes the afterlife audible. It’s a huge contrast to Mozart’s Fifth Violin Concerto – crystal-clear, carefree music by a nineteen-year-old genius, featuring Alina Ibragimova as the radiant soloist. The music sings from the first to the very last note, with a touch of 'Turkish' exoticism thrown in for good measure.