大象传媒

The 大象传媒 Philharmonic is joined by conductor Anna Rakitina and contralto Jess Dandy for music by Perry and Shostakovich.

To open the concert, the orchestra marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Smetana with his iconic portrait of the river Vltava.

Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony "a Soviet artist's reply to just criticism" to Stalin's displeasure at his opera "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" has always presented a dichotomy; here a deliberately simple and direct musical language (Stalin's approval of this music was vital to Shostakovich staying alive as well as his career) can also be interpreted as things left unsaid. Fear of persecution by the authorities - danger to himself and those he cared for - prevented overt criticism of the regime within which he lived and worked, but for many the music portrays powerful double messages. At each listen our experience of the world might lead us in a different direction.

Contralto Jess Dandy joins the orchestra for Julia Perry's Stabat Mater. This hard-hitting portrayal of Mary at the foot of Jesus's cross is a synthesis of words and music across the ages; the universal language of loss and suffering is shared and amplified across time and place.

Recorded at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall on 2 March 2024.
Presented by Tom McKinney

Smetana: Vltava (from Ma Vlast)
Perry: Stabat Mater

Music Interval

Shostakovich: Symphony No.5

Jess Dandy (contralto)
大象传媒 Philharmonic
Anna Rakitina (conductor)