Beethoven And Shostakovich Symphonies

Michael Sanderling Beethoven And Shostakovich Symphonies CD

gifted symphonists. Beethoven’s First Symphony was first performed at the Burgtheater – the Imperial Court Theatre – in Vienna in 1800 and was an immediate success, already revealing its composer’s characteristic imprint, with its rapid interplay between dynamic and dramatic extremes. Shostakovich’s First Symphony strikes a similar note with its tempestuous uninhibitedness, combining musical modernism, unusual orchestral forces and classical form. The work was the eighteen-year-old Shostakovich’s graduation piece at the Leningrad Conservatory and was first performed by the Leningrad Philharmonic in 1926, proving his first international success and bringing to an end his financial woes. There is no mistaking the grotesque yet serious style and use of caricature that were later to permeate all of the composer’s major works.

By comparing and contrasting these debut symphonies by Beethoven and Shostakovich, the present recording by the Dresdner Philharmonie under its principal conductor Michael Sanderling was hailed by the press as a fascinating exercise, receiving four stars from Fono Forum, which described the programme as a “delightful combination” of works.

ABOUT THE ORCHESTRA The Dresdner Philharmonie is the orchestra of Dresden, the State Capital of Saxony. Since 2011, Michael Sanderling has been its Principal Conductor, following Kurt Masur, Marek Janowski, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and others in this position.

Since 1870, the year when Dresden got its first great concert hall, the Philharmonic’s symphony concerts have been an established part of the city’s concert life. The Dresdner Philharmonie has ever since been a concert orchestra with regular ventures into the fields of opera concertante and oratorios.

The Dresdner Philharmonie offers great musical and stylistic variety. On the one hand, the orchestra has been able to retain its very own “German” sound in the Romantic repertoire. On the other hand, it has developed flexibility of sound and style for Baroque and Viennese Classic music as well as for modern works. Renowned conductors and composers headed the orchestra early on, from Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Dvorák and Richard Strauss to Erich Kleiber and Knappertsbusch, Previn and Marriner, to Andris Nelsons and Kristjan Järvi. Premieres remain an important part of the orchestra’s programme today.

Not only does the Dresdner Philharmonie enjoy an extraordinarily large number of regular subscribers; with its family programmes, film music concerts etc. it introduces classical music to new groups of listeners. Guest performances all over the world are testimony to the high renown the Dresdner Philharmonie enjoys in the world of classical music. Another remarkable aspect is the Philharmonic’s impressive discography which started to develop in 1937.