Baltimore, Md. (October 31, 2014) - Music Director Marin Alsop will lead the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) in Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 on Thursday, November 13 at 8 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and Sunday, November 16 at 3 p.m. at The Music Center at Strathmore. Also on the program are Tchaikovsky's tone poem Marche slave and Rachmaninoff's virtuosic Piano Concerto No. 1, performed by Boris Giltburg, winner of the 2013 Queen Elisabeth Competition. Please see below for complete program details.
In 1937, Shostakovich was in hot water with Stalin, who had loathed his recent opera Lady Macbeth. The composer responded to the situation with his most popular symphony, the Fifth Symphony. Hidden within it may be musical protests against the regime - particularly in its moving, tragic slow movement - but the symphony's overall effect is powerful and triumphant. It was a hit in the then-U.S.S.R., and everywhere else since.Marin Alsop will also lead Tchaikovsky's rousing Marche slave, a piece inspired by Serbian folk melodies. The composer wrote the piece in 1876 for a fundraising concert in support of Serbia's fight against the Turks. The piece shares a few refrains with his 1812 Overture, with which it is frequently paired in performance.Completing this all-Russian program is Rachmaninoff's First Piano Concerto, a work he originally wrote when he was only 18 and revised and strengthened more than 25 years later. Not heard as often as his Second and Third Concertos, it offers the Romantic melodies that were Rachmaninoff's specialty. Performing the concerto is Russian-born and Israeli-raised pianist Boris Giltburg, who makes his BSO debut.Videos