A Dark Century

Confronted by unimaginable horror, Schoenberg rediscovered his Jewish roots, and created a musical drama of savage, defiant courage. In Soviet Russia, the authorities expected Shostakovich to write a propaganda symphony: but what they got was a searing denunciation of man’s inhumanity to man – more potent, and more urgent than ever in 2024. As part of the orchestra’s exploration of memory, Andrey Boreyko conducts three testaments from a dark century – with the incomparable Gidon Kremer as soloist in the Violin Concerto by Weinberg: composer, survivor and Shostakovich’s most devoted friend.