Germany Shostakovich Festival Leipzig [3]: Gautier Capuçon (cello), Boston Symphony Orchestra / Andris Nelsons (conductor), Gewandhaus, Leipzig. 17.5.2025. (GT)

Shostakovich – Cello Concerto No.1 in E-flat major, Op.107; Symphony No.8 in C minor, Op.65
In this, the third concert in Leipzig’s exploration of the Shostakovich symphonies, it was already clear that this festival would prove historic in this comprehensive presentation of all the composer’s works. That two world-class orchestras shared the workload over more than two weeks is a credit to the Gewandhaus artistic leadership and to the sponsors who have made it all possible.
The masterly Cello Concerto No.1 allowed the audience some breathing space before the great expanses of the Shostakovich wartime symphony. One of the assets of the Boston musicians is the clear-cut precision of their playing – most notably in the strings – almost as if we are listening to a single performer, all conditioned to play as a single unit. Following the cleanly expressed introduction by Capuçon in the Allegretto, there was a charming solo by the horn and by the woodwind group, which led us to the extended dialogue between the horn and the cello of great mastery – almost as if a conversation between two great artists.
This world of tranquil serenity became increasingly dramatic, and in the second movement (Moderato), there entered an idiom of mourning – again highlighted by the horn – leading to an increase of tension before the dialogue between cello and horn was reprised before the third movement (Cadenza) offered hope of peace and rebirth in a delightfully warm passage by the French cellist. It only prepared us for the finale (Allegro con moto) and the terrific race to the finish in a sequence of glorious musicianship, again marked by virtuoso sparkling playing with meticulousness on the clarinets and horn. As an encore, Capuçon joined the cello group of the orchestra in a prepared excerpt from Shostakovich’s 5 Pieces for Strings.
Of all the Shostakovich symphonies, the Eighth is, for me, the most masterly in expressing humankind’s inhumanity to other human beings and of the terrible atrocities committed during the last war, and which at the close offers the hope of a better, more enlightened existence.
The opening bars of the Eighth Symphony’s first movement (Adagio-Allegro non troppo) started with a great declaration leading to the arching statement by the strings of an enigmatic idea and leading to a terrific build-up of tension broken only by the lonely cor anglais that portrays emptiness and desolation. Interrupted by the brass and the percussion and by an emotive release the triumph is forlorn and then there enters a spell of great desolation. The second movement (Allegretto) was magnificent in breaking the threatening danger and distinguished by magnificent virtuosity from the piccolo and the flute. The menace of great evil forces is characterised by the third movement (Allegro non troppo) with the violas infusing a passage of spellbinding dramatic tension and embodied by quite incredible mastery in their harmony. The gritty, tense terror from the brass and the determination from the violins transformed into a tour de force with the entry of the trumpets, trombones and especially now with a swagger, taking us to a tremendous climax.
As if offering a soothing relief from terror, in the fourth movement (Largo) an overwhelming sadness was evinced by the strings. The opening movement’s idiom of the desolation of human existence was reprised in which the solo piccolo offered a glimpse of hope, accentuated by the bass clarinet. In the final movement (Allegretto), the flute introduced a different idiom – perhaps of a more hopeful future – and leading to a tremendous effective development of playing which culminated on the brass and woodwind before slowing down to a flow of exquisite music-making slowly disappearing into the tranquillity of peaceful isolation.
Gregor Tassie
Featured Image: Andris Nelsons conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra © Jens Gerber