Shostakovich and Elgar

Elgar’s wistful Cello Concerto and Shostakovich’s melancholic Sixth Symphony end on a light-hearted note with a dancing tune à la Rimsky-Korsakov. All’s well that ends well?

Elgar’s Cello Concerto is music about a lost paradise, a world before the First World War. Shostakovich’s Sixth Symphony follows seamlessly. Its grand opening movement—almost a symphony in itself—breathes the same melancholy. But all clouds vanish when the E-flat clarinet introduces the second movement: a playful tune that could have stepped straight out of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol. All’s well that ends well?

Ticket sale starts on May 20, 2025 at 10:00