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The Hall茅 Orchestra and Mark Elder with a Britten premiere and Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony.

Live from the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
Presented by Adam Tomlinson
Britten: "Britten in Wartime" (world premiere)

7.55 - 8.15 INTERVAL: Twenty Minutes

Shostakovich: Symphony No 7 in C major Opus 60 "Leningrad"

Samuel West, narrator
Hall茅 Orchestra
Mark Elder, conductor

Shostakovich's Symphony No 7, the "Leningrad", was composed during the traumatic siege of Leningrad during the Second World War. The piece became a symbol of resistance and triumph over acute adversity and the score was even smuggled out of war-torn Russia on microfilm so that a performance could be given in America.

Benjamin Britten was himself working for the war effort during this time, and "Britten in Wartime", which has been put together from Britten's manuscripts by composer Colin Matthews, offers an insightful look at the composer's work for radio in 1942, consisting as it does of music Britten composed for propaganda documentaries about British life, aimed at American listeners. Selected passages from the original broadcasts are read by Samuel West, alongside the music.