The Hallé Orchestra

Programme:
Sibelius Andante Festivo
Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1
Beethoven Symphony No. 3 ‘Eroica’

Three contrasting moods frame this Hallé concert, beginning with the hushed solemnity of Sibelius’s Andante Festivo, originally written to mark the 25th anniversary of the Saynatsalo plywood mill but later a mainstay of dignified Finnish state occasions, including the composer’s own funeral. Steely defiance defines Shostakovich’s 1st Cello Concerto, performed here by leading German cellist Jan Vogler. Although he wrote it during the Soviet thaw under Kruschev, Shostakovich drew deeply on his memories of years of harassment suffered during the Stalin years, filling it with searing energy and keening melodies.

Beethoven’s Third Symphony confounded the expectations of its first listeners, many of whom were perplexed by its unprecedented length and emotional extremes. But its epic narrative of heroic struggle, as Beethoven broke away decisively from Haydn and Mozart to herald the beginning of the Romantic age, has lost none of its potency over two centuries later.