An Olympian piano concerto and Shostakovich's Sixth Symphony - thrilling optimism and profound tragedy keep company in the concert hall.
Music and sport don't really mix, but if you had to pick a piano concerto for the Olympics it might well be Brahms's Second Piano Concerto. It's huge in scale and character - full of confidence and power - and in this concert French pianist Philippe Bianconi will be tackling a solo part that's one of the most challenging in the repertoire.
1930s Soviet Russia was no comfortable place to be - Shostakovich kept a suitcase packed in case he was arrested in the night. Fear and anguish kept company with the optimism of propaganda, and both emerge in Shostakovich's Sixth Symphony. Its emotional heart is the tragic first movement; then the symphony adopts a mask of thrilling energy for its race to the finish.
BRAHMS Piano Concerto No.2
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No.6
Oleg Caetani conductor
Philippe Bianconi piano
AUDIO PLAYER LISTING
Track 1 - BRAHMS Piano Concerto No.2: I Allegro ma non troppo
Track 2 - BRAHMS Piano Concerto No.2: IV Allegretto grazioso
Nelson Freire (piano) with the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester conducted by Riccardo Chailly
DECCA ELOQUENCE 475 7639
Track 3 - SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No.6: II Allegro
Track 4 - SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No.6: III Presto
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy
DECCA 475 8749
Audio kindly supplied by Silver Partner Universal Music