QSO Morning Masterworks: Rachmaninoff & Shostakovich

Say hello to the grandeur of Russian modernist music of “Rachmaninoff & Shostakovich” performed by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Umberto Clerici and with pianist Konstantin Shamray as the guest soloist. QSO Morning Masterworks are daytime sessions, slightly abridged versions of the evening Maestro series, and designed especially for those concert goers who prefer a daytime show.

Sergei Rachmaninoff and Dmitri Shostakovich make a great concert pairing. Both persecuted by the authorities, the composers – although generations apart – express the same anguish in their works. This concert presents two iconic works: Rachmaninoff’s second piano concerto and Shostakovich’s fifth symphony. These are perhaps some of the most performed orchestral works by the Russian composers. Yet, their interconnectedness makes them stronger together, while their relevance does not diminish in today’s political climate.

Rachmaninoff is considered one of the last great champions of Romanticism, celebrated for his luxurious harmonies and the intuitive vastness of his musical thought. The second movement of his Concerto No.2 (the only one presented at the morning concert) pulls us into the turbulent world of exile, political persecution, and life in fear for one’s own safety. Rachmaninoff’s adagio sostenuto lures us in with its yearning, its desire to communicate, and its contemplation of danger. As the movement builds, the piano’s voice becomes more and more urgent. Shamray’s emotional precision, perfect layering and exceptional melodic phrasing commands the orchestra into a windy snow storm, where the snow is hitting your cheeks as you slip on the ice on your walk through a cold zingy day. Melancholic and wistful, yet warmed up with vodka and flavoured with salted fish…

Rachmaninoff sets the scene, and Shostakovich exposes the trepidations of an artistic intellectual under the Soviet rule. The Fifth Symphony is rich in flavour and emotion, mirroring the constant turbulence, the racing thoughts and plaguing doubts. It is desire to express and fear of expression struggling against each other. The QSO’s arresting performance reminds us why nothing beats listening to this symphony live. The musicians’ energetic movements respond to the conductor’s lead, and the orchestra becomes an organism in a state of heightened anxiety, pulsing, tensing, and holding its breath. The waves of emotion, the flurry of thoughts – this autobiographical symphony had its first audience in tears and its present audience on the edge on their seats.

The Morning Masterworks concerts details can be found here.