Germany Shostakovich Festival Leipzig 2025 [2]: Baiba Skride (violin), Boston Symphony Orchestra / Andris Nelsons (conductor), Gewandhaus, Leipzig. 16.5.2025. (GT)
Shostakovich – Violin Concerto No.1 in A major, Op.77 (rev. Op.99); Symphony No.11 in G minor, Op.103 (‘The Year 1905’)
In this Shostakovich Festival in Leipzig, a unique aspect is the sharing of concerts with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for the symphonic cycle, and, indeed, three of their concerts will be with members of the Gewandhaus Orchestra for performances of the ‘Leningrad’ Symphony, and members of the Tanglewood Music Centre will perform with students of the Mendelssohn Orchestra Academy in the Festival Orchestra. The Boston Symphony has long been associated with Shostakovich’s symphonies when Serge Koussevitsky was the chief conductor, and this has continued in the period since Andris Nelsons became the chief conductor in 2014. Before the Leipzig festival, Nelsons led the Boston Symphony in their retrospective of this composer’s music.
In the opening (Notturno. Moderato) of Violin Concerto No.1, the opening darkly menacing theme from the orchestra was heard against the fragile intonation of the violin and which led to a chilling passage from the celesta and the bassoon at a particularly slow tempo. This supported the representation of the repressive and often threatening mood. In the second movement (Scherzo. Allegro), the spell of darkness was broken by the bracingly racy theme, dynamically leading into a bizarre sequence on the percussion and closing stirringly. The slow movement (Passacaglia. Andante) was moving and soulful from the Latvian violinist Baiba Skride in a passage of great beauty heard against the perfectionism of the strings. This took us to an elegiac passage on the solo violin heard against the gloomy theme on the tuba and the idiom of oppressive feelings which was represented movingly in the cadenza played at a very measured tempo by Skride.
In the final movement (Burleske. Allegro con brio), Nelsons launched into a strikingly vivid tempo that was enhanced by the spectacularly virtuosic percussion, and then the theme was reprised by the whole orchestra taking us to a thrillingly exuberant and optimistic finale. This was a prolonged performance extended to an expansive, and rewarding forty-three minutes.
Unlike the First Violin Concerto, the Eleventh Symphony is rarely heard – because of its cinematic and political connotations, and its extended length. Yet, the symphony contains some of Shostakovich’s most expressive and colourful orchestral music as any of his symphonies. Here, in the opening (Moderato), the idea opened eerily on the strings and was marked by a stirring trumpet entry, which was picked up on the horn and the mood broken by the snare drum leading to an intensely performed songlike presentation of remarkable harmony by the Boston strings. The second movement (Allegro) saw the tempo rise significantly, in a display of magnificent musicianship by the BSO, especially by thrilling playing from the brass group which led into a pizzicato passage on the strings of remarkable precision and emotional warmth. The third movement (Adagio) marked a transformation by the violins with a rather pensive theme, leading to an enormous climax and a chilling scene of terrible desolation. The mood was broken by a solo trumpet that led into a fierce intensity by the whole orchestra and finally transmuted into a desperately alarming scene with the whispering strings invoking the freezing icy streets of St Petersburg after the massacre.
The reprise on the flute of the main song theme was stirringly moving, followed by entry into the fourth movement (Allegro non troppo) with a powerful passage on the violas leading to the build-up to a funeral march which then transformed into an optimistic theme on the strings. The revolutionary song emerged gloriously in an unbowed, daunting sequence of sound reaching a stirring climax and another transformation with the reprise of the song shattered by the brass; then a brisk march on the strings performed with great precision together with the brass and timpani. For me, it was striking how effectively Shostakovich can transform huge orchestral passages into quite dissimilar passages which take the listener into wholly different idioms, from great sorrow and then to almost violent anger or ultimately redemption. From the conducting of Andris Nelsons it was clear that he believes in this music and affirms this symphony as a triumphant victory over dark, hostile forces – a message which remains as relevant today as it was at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Gregor Tassie
Featured Image: Andris Nelsons conducts violinist Baiba Skride and the Boston Symphony Orchestra © Jens Gerber