The raw power of Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony meets the anguished humanity of John Adams and Walt Whitman: Jukka-Pekka Saraste explores the terror and compassion of 20th century music at its most powerful.
The raw power of Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony meets the anguished humanity of John Adams and Walt Whitman: Jukka-Pekka Saraste explores the terror and compassion of 20th century music at its most powerful.
Imagine a symphony of iron and steel: a masterpiece so uncompromising that for decades, no-one dared perform it. In Stalin’s Russia, music as bold as Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony was often banned. Today we can hear it for what it is: a gripping eye-witness account of a dark chapter in modern history, told in music of shattering originality and strength.
For guest conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste, it’s a testament to human suffering and resilience - so how to set the scene? His answer is inspired: John Adams’s profoundly tender setting of Walt Whitman’s poetic reflections on the U.S. Civil War. “I sit by the restless all the dark night, some are so young / Some suffer so much”. Two musical worlds collide, united in their shared humanity.
