Two composers’ deeply personal utterances are brought together in this Gala of 20th Century Masterworks. Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet, much loved since its premiere in 1940 where the composer himself played piano, is preceded by his 8th String Quartet – the centerpiece of his 15 quartet oevre. Dedicated “to the victims of fascism and the war”, the quartet was written in just three days, and the personal nature of the work’s emotional landscape is revealed through the repeated use of DSCH – his musical signature.
The concert ends with Richard Strauss’ exquisite and personally reconciled meditation on death, Four Last Songs, heard here in an intimate new arrangement by Festival Director Iain Grandage.