Melbourne Symphony Orchestra: Northern Reflections: Sibelius and Shostakovich

MSO Young Artist in Association Christian Li joins the MSO and Queensland Symphony Orchestra Chief Conductor Umberto Clerici for a concert of thrilling works from north of the equator.

Featuring Sibelius and Shostakovich – plus Rossini’s galloping overture from William Tell. Instantly recognisable and heavily quoted in pop culture, the overture to Rossini’s 1829 opera William Tell was lauded by critics at the time as a symphony in and of itself with a poetic opening, a storm, pastoral scene, and its famous galloping finale.
Shostakovich’s relationship with the Soviet Russian state had been tumultuous for many years by the time he began his sixth symphony. He had announced an epic musical monument to Lenin with chorus and soloists, and leaning heavily on Russian folk music. When it premiered in 1939, however, the work turned out to contain none of these things – restrained and dark instead of bombastic and patriotic, with no references to Lenin – throwing him into political disfavour.