Shostakovich, Dmitri: Symphony No. 10 in E minor op. 93 (1953) World Premiere 17.12.1953 Philharmonic Hall, Leningrad Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra / Yevgeni Mravinsky There are many who think the Tenth the greatest of Shostakovich’s symphonies. It is certainly one of the most powerfully organised and most dramatic in its impact. The first movement opens mysteriously, with plangent echoes of klezmer music in the clarinet and string writing. By contrast, the whirlwind scherzo, lasting only a handful of minutes, is of stupendous violence and aggression. The slow movement is one of Shostakovich’s most touching and poignant achievements, a delicate web of strangely disconcerting allusions and suggestions, while the finale, beginning slowly, bit by bit transforms itself into a Jewish wedding-dance which gets faster and faster until, at the end, the orchestra hurls out the four notes of Shostakovich’s initials, DSCH (in german notation: D, E flat, C, B natural). In the past some have suggested that the symphony’s scherzo was ‘a portrait of Stalin’, whatever that might mean. Stalin had died only months before the piece was composed and certainly this is music of anguish and anger. More recently a private letter of the composer has appeared which reveals that the beautiful slow movement is a hidden lovesong, weaving in the first name of one of the composer’s favourite pupils – Elmira Nazirova – as 12-fold horn-call: E, La (A), Mi (E), Re (D), A. Note by Gerard McBurney, Boosey & Hawkes Tickets to the EDO concert in Cadogan Hall Sunday 19 October 2025, 16:00: https://cadoganhall.com/whats-on/european-doctors-orchestra-2025/ (fb)

Grant Llewellyn is renowned for his exceptional charisma, energy, and effortless authority in music of all styles and periods. Born in Tenby, South Wales, Llewellyn’s early promise was recognized with a Conducting Fellowship at the Tanglewood Music Center in Massachusetts in 1985 where he worked with Bernstein, Ozawa, Masur, and Previn. We once again warmly welcome him as our conductor in Cadogan Hall, London October 19, like in October 2022, with Hyeyoon Park as violin soloist. This time she will play Brahms violin concerto. In addition you can experience the powerfull tenth symphony by Dmitri Shostakovich. Tickets: https://cadoganhall.com/whats-on/european-doctors-orchestra-2025/ (fb)