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Jessie Montgomery Starburst
Caroline Shaw and the swallow
Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings
Shostakovich Chamber Symphony Op. 110a
At the core of this programme lie two emotionally-charged Russian works, written from the heart in tough times.
Tchaikovsky composed his Serenade on return from an extended trip to Italy taken on his doctor’s advice. The music lifts us from exhaustion to elation, from a poignant elegy to rousing Russian folk tunes by way of warm Italian sunshine.
Eighty years later, in 1960, Shostakovich was in Dresden writing music to order for a Soviet film on the Allied bombing in World War II. Against this backdrop, he completed his most personal, moving – and famous – string quartet, No.8, later adapted into the Chamber Symphony.