Concertgebouworkest en Karina Canellakis met Sjostakovitsj' Symfonie nr. 5

Karina Canellakis conducts Shostakovich

Karina Canellakis and Shostakovich form a dream combination. The conductor has secured a solid place in Dutch musical life, partly due to her varied programs. She has a special flair for Shostakovich. His Fifth Symphony is one of his most ambiguous works, written during the darkest Stalin years. Artistic individuality was mercilessly punished, and the composer was under a magnifying glass. This drove him to a remarkable balancing act. The symphony was exactly what the regime wanted to hear, yet it was full of hidden criticism. When does a heroic little march turn into a caricature? Canellakis demonstrates this.

Alina Ibragimova plays Mozart

Darkness also reigns in The Kingdom of Silence , in which the Swedish-Russian Victoria Borisova-Ollas makes the afterlife audible. Mozart's Fifth Violin Concerto forms a huge contrast: crystal-clear, untroubled music by a nineteen-year-old genius, with Alina Ibragimova as the radiant soloist. The music sings from the first to the last note, with a touch of 'Turkish' exoticism as an added bonus.