SCHNITTKE, TCHAIKOVSKY, AND FEDOSEYEV

24 April, 19.00, Great Guild

Darja SMIRNOVA – violin

Sandis ŠTEINBERGS – violin

Conductor Vladimir FEDOSEYEV

Programme:

Alfred SCHNITTKE Concerto Grosso no. 1 for Two Violins and Orchestra

Tchaikovsky's Symphony no. 6

Tchaikovsky was tormented by passion; Schnittke – a saint among sinners. A 19th century romanticist and a post-modernist of the 20th century.

Schnittke's Concerto Grosso no. 1 alludes to music from the Baroque era. It is an opportunity for the soloists to go wild and for the orchestra to engage in some mischief, conflating the lyrical, the ironic, the tragic, and the acquiescent.

Tchaikovsky's Symphony no. 6 is sometimes called the Pathétique. It is the last work Tchaikovsky ever completed, and it was first performed a week and a half before the author passed away. Composer's relatives and friends assume that the symphony might be considered autobiographic. A rare example of a symphony whose themes are all hits, popular among people who are hardly familiar with classical music.

Vladimir Fedoseyev is a living legend - grand master of the Russian school of symphony orchestra conducting. Music director and lead conductor of the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra (since 1974), chief guest conductor of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra (since 2000), permanent guest conductor at the Zurich Opera House (since 1997) and Tonhalle Zurich (since 2000). Fedoseyev's greatests achievements include the productions of operas by Berlioz, Tchaikovsky, Janáček, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Shostakovich and Verdi in Vienna, Paris, Zurich, Milan, Bregenz, Florence, and other places. The maestro has conducted full-length recordings of symphonies by Beethoven, Brahms, and Shostakovich, he has also led the recordings of symphonies by Tchaikovsky, Mahler and Taneyev, and operas by Dargomyzhsky and Rimsky-Korsakov. The recording of Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov with Fedoseyev as conductor enjoys particular critical acclaim and listeners' approval. His performance at the LNSO season opening concert earned him Latvia's Grand Music Award in 2013.

Vladimir Fedoseyev holds his collaboration with the LNSO in high regard, and we have had the wonderful opportunity to appreciate the maestro's measured, clever, fascinating, unforgettable interpretations in recent seasons: Fedoseyev conducted the LNSO seasong closing concert in 2016, performing Scriabin's Symphony no. 3, and the maestro conducted a remarkable reading of Shostakovich's Symphony no. 10 in February, 2018.