Shostakovich Symphony no. 5

Love and death collide with wit and irreverence in a programme of contemporary classics, which has one of the century’s most powerful symphonies at its heart.

Beauty, eroticism and tenderness all jostle for supremacy in Berg’s exquisite Seven Early Songs, performed here by the distinguished German soprano Dorothea Roschmann, who makes her much-anticipated debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Strauss’s musical portrait of the mischievous folk-hero Till Eulenspiegel makes a lively opener, while Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony – a  bold, bitter work of musical protest – reveals the darker side of the age. Dynamic young conductor Rafael Payare, one of the fastest rising stars of the orchestral world, directs.