Leningrad

The Radio Network Tour, presented in association with the Christchurch Arts Festival.

REAL New Zealand Festival - with the support of the New Zealand Government through Manatu Taonga - Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

Vasily Petrenko - conductor.
Michael Houstoun - piano.

Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No. 4 .
Shostakovich - Symphony No. 7 Leningrad.

Experience revolution with the NZSO.

Born and trained in St Petersburg, stellar Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Chief Vasily Petrenko brings a deep understanding and passion to Shostakovich’s legendary Leningrad Symphony. Written while the composer was trapped with his family in the city besieged and bombarded by the German army, Shostakovich here gives expression to the powerful feelings of rage and determination that his experience provoked, creating a symphony of unyielding defiance against tyranny. Out of the burning intensity of its birth, the legend of the Leningrad took immediate hold and has not diminished today.

Preceding the symphony, we hear Rachmaninov’s late concerto, dating from 1926, a work in which the composer modified his innate Romanticism under the influence of the spirit of modernity that surrounded him. Striving for a streamlined simplicity and leanness, the composer’s Romantic spirit is not completely subdued, resulting in a work of great fascination, which reveals Rachmaninov’s questing musical spirit, his musical intelligence and sophistication.

“Petrenko lives up to the hype, with performances of great cogency and directness” - The Guardian, UK

Event listed by NZSO

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