Half Six Fix: Shostakovich

The Concert

Kick-start your evening with a 60-minute Half Six Fix concert. Introduced by the performers, with screens in the hall to bring you closer to the action.

The Music

Shostakovich’s Symphony No 5 was begun in 1937, a year after Stalin condemned the composer’s opera Lady Macbeth as ‘muddle instead of music’. On the surface, the Fifth falls back into Soviet line with its clear sense of structure and abundance of tunes. But there’s an underlying menace to the opening movement, a brooding darkness to the Largo, while the surging finale is surely nothing short of Shostakovich at his most bitingly ironic.

The Performers

Chief Conductor Sir Antonio Pappano leads the LSO in this landmark work of the 20th-century, and introduces the symphony from the stage.

Public booking opens Wednesday 16 April 10am