Carnegie Hall: Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage57th Street and, 7th Ave, New York City, New York, 10019, United States
Dates/times in New York time zone
Programme
| Bernstein, Leonard (1918-1990) | Symphony no. 2, "The Age of Anxiety" | |
| Shostakovich, Dmitri (1906-1975) | Symphony no. 4 in C minor, Op.43 |
Performers
| Boston Symphony Orchestra | |
| Andris Nelsons | Conductor |
| Jean-Yves Thibaudet | Piano |
Bernstein has four characters search for faith in a New York City bar while Shostakovich’s symphony flirts with danger. W. H. Auden’s poem “The Age of Anxiety,” an eclogue on man’s spiritual quest, inspired the pulsing jazz piano and vivid orchestral colors of Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2. Echoes of Mahler are evident in Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 4, especially the emotional arc of its finale. The composer cancelled the symphony’s 1936 premiere knowing its unorthodox style ran against Soviet cultural policy—a mistake that could have cost him his freedom or more.
