Lothian Road
Fri 2 Oct · 19:30
J S Bach arr Stokowski Komm, süsser Tod (4’) Schnittke Viola Concerto (35’) Shostakovich Symphony No5 (46’) Patrick Hahn Conductor Lawrence Power Viola In Stalin’s Russia, music really was a matter of life and death. Written under political oppression, Shostakovich gambled everything on his Fifth Symphony, and when it was first played, the audience wept – and then cheered. Make no mistake, this is a musical thriller with a devastating emotional punch, and tonight Principal Guest Conductor Patrick Hahn sets the scene with another Cold War classic, Schnittke’s haunting Viola Concerto, with the brilliant Lawrence Power as soloist. Expect shadows, secrets and some powerful surprises.

Not the same tradition as the lineage above — a genuinely different thread to pull, if you want one.