| Thomas Søndergård | Musikalische Leitung |
| Sergei Krylov | Violine |
| London Philharmonic Orchestra |
Shostakovich called his Fifth Symphony 'a Soviet artist's creative response to just criticism'. Well that was the official line. Like everything in Stalin's Russia though, the reality was a bit more complicated, and the music is a lot more gripping. Conductor Thomas Søndergard brings all his trademark energy to a symphony that defined the 20th century – music that really is a matter of life and death. It's the ideal companion-piece for the atmospheric Violin Concerto by Andrzej Panufnik, the post-war Polish master who found refuge in the UK, and the rich Nordic colours of Sibelius's rarely-performed evocation of a doomed romance, far away and long ago.
Panufnik's Violin Concerto organised in collaboration with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the Polska Music programme.