Wolfgang Rihm, Mahler and Shostakovich

Barbican Hall, London
Barbican, Silk Street, London EC2
United Kingdom
020 7638 8891
http://www.barbican.org.uk/eticketing

BBCSO

Ingo Metzmacher conductor
Johan Reuter baritone

High, gleaming sonorities and a sense of enchantment link Wolfgang Rihm’s new piece with Mahler’s beguiling songs from the magical folktae collection, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, sung by the much sought-after Danish baritone Johan Reuter. Songs of a very different kind permeate Shostakovich’s dramatic 11th symphony, an almost cinematic evocation of the 1905 Revolution. The composer wove nine popular revolutionary songs into his dramatic portrayal, with its ominous, icy opening and terrifying Bloody Sunday massacre during which 1,000 workers were gunned down. Shostakovich chose the dark-toned violas for his poignant lament for the dead, before a tumultuous finale that whips up an urgent fervour for justice.

Wolfgang Rihm : Nähe-fern-1
Gustav Mahler : Songs from “Des Knaben Wunderhorn”
Dmitri Shostakovich : Symphony No. 11