After three decades of being the Music Director and Chief Conductor of St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and more than half a century on the stage, Yuri Temirkanov has an aura of dignity and self-confidence which is difficult to describe. In an almost hieratic style, he conducted tonight’s performance by moving only his right hand most of the time. The link with the orchestra and his expertise meant that nothing else was necessary to make Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony sound great. Next to him, the young Spanish violinist Leticia Moreno explored all the pain, sadness and violence of Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto.
Shostakovich wrote this concerto in 1947, but the cultural purge under Stalin meant that it wasn’t performed until 1955, two years after the dictator’s death. This work has often been considered a journey from despair to optimism. In less than 40 minutes, it is an intimate trip through the composer’s emotions. Temirkanov ensured the softest sound of the orchestra for the first movement, the impressive Nocturne. This part is not a romantic evocation of moonlight, but a reflection on loneliness and fear. Right from the beginning, Leticia Moreno proved to have understood the depth of its message.
Inspired by renowned violinist David Oistrakh, Shostakovich wrote extremely exigent passages which require not only an absolute mastery of technique, but also a strong empathy between the orchestra and the soloist. After having recorded this concerto together a few years ago, it is evident that both conditions are present in St Petersburg Philharmonic and Leticia Moreno. This is how they solved the diabolically convoluted second movement, truly a tour de force between winds and solo violin.