Truls Mørk speelt Sjostakovitsj

Finnish accent and Russian pepper

The first non-Finnish chief conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra will perform a Finnish-Russian concert. In his sparkling Serenades, Magnus Lindberg emerges as the twenty-first century 'answer' to Sibelius, whose Third Symphony is on the programme. Norwegian top cellist Truls Mørk plays Shostakovich's First Cello Concerto . Mørk's breathtaking CD recording of Shostakovich's cello concertos is still considered one of the very best. Classics Today praised the rich tone and impeccable intonation and concluded: 'these performances smoke'.

Existential notes

The demands that the Russian authorities imposed on artists were never lenient, and both Shostakovich and Sibelius tried to free themselves from that trap. Sibelius fought for 'real Finnish music' in his Third Symphony (1907) and Shostakovich was finally able to write his First Cello Concerto in 1959 without Stalin's hot breath on his neck. Although he still had to take the ubiquitous Composers' Union into account. The result is no less impressive. Existential notes that sound for a higher purpose than mere pleasure.