Janine Jansen Performs Shostakovich's Violin Concerto

The sea can be both beautiful and brutal, and when two of the greatest composers in modern music history depict it, the result is as fascinating as it is dangerous. Debussy's La Mer explores the shifting colours of the sea. Britten's Four Sea Interludes are drawn from the opera Peter Grimes, about an outcast fisherman who is slowly broken down by the condemnation of his community. In addition, Janine Jansen is the soloist in Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1 from 1948, which was not premiered until seven years after its completion, with Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla on the podium.

In this programme, we encounter two composers who use the sea as an image of something greater. For Debussy, it is an impressionistic depiction of nature that breaks with the conventions of his time, while for Britten it serves as a dark and turbulent backdrop for human tragedy. Shostakovich may not depict the sea in his Violin Concerto No. 1, but he nonetheless had to navigate politically treacherous waters. All three works are marked by intense emotional tension, sudden shifts, and an underlying unease that never fully releases its grip.