Schostakowitsch Festival - Boston Symphony Orchestra & Andris Nelsons

In the organizer's words:

Experience Shostakovich in all his musical depth: Andris Nelsons conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra and welcomes the celebrated cellist Gautier Capuçon as soloist. The concert opens with the masterful 1st Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in E flat major op. 107, a work of great emotional expressiveness and virtuoso technique, which was premiered in 1959 and shows Shostakovich at his best as a composer for the cello.

The interval is followed by the dramatic Symphony No. 8 in C minor op. 65, which was composed in 1943 during the Second World War and musically reflects the gloomy atmosphere of the war years. With overwhelming tonal power and emotional gravity, this work captures the deprivation and suffering of the time.