Tavener
Gnosis c12'
BBC commission: world premiere
Bartók
Violin Concerto No. 2 38'
interval
Shostakovich
Symphony No. 10 in E minor 53'
Michael Cox alto flute
Sarah Connolly mezzo-soprano
Isabelle Faust violin
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Jiří Bĕlohlávek conductor
Isabelle Faust's association with Bartók extends back to her very first recording. Now, fresh from an acclaimed disc of both the composer’s violin concertos, she joins the BBC SO and Conductor Laureate Jiří Bĕlohlávek for Bartók's Second Violin Concerto.
Written under the threat of Fascism, it's a passionate national statement, lively with folk rhythms. By the early 1950s and Shostakovich's 10th Symphony, threat had become reality.
This violent, despairing work paints a vivid portrait of the horrors of Stalin's Russia. The evening opens with the first of two posthumous premieres this season from the late John Tavener – some of the last works from England's great musical mystic.