Wiener Philharmoniker

In its thirty-year Parisan residency on avenue Montaigne, the Wiener Philharmoniker has scarcely played any Russian repertoire. Seiji Ozawa, Valery Gergiev, and Mariss Jansons ventured into Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky, but never Shostakovich. We therefore applaud this programme devised by Italian-born Daniele Gatti, who is offering a Viennese take on this repertoire. Although Symphony No. 5 is the most frequently played work in the corpus (Shostakovich composed 15 symphonies), Symphony No. 10 is a work apart as it is more firmly anchored in history than the others. The piece was composed at the height of the Cold War when Shostakovich fell out of favour with many critics, especially in the wake of his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. This very specific period in the life of the musician has been subjected to much analysis as Stalin died in 1953, and a number of critics saw and heard in Opus 10 a musical expression of the years of Stalinist Terror. The whole work is permeated by a feeling of oppression and musical tensions are present throughout. This iconic work presents a challenge for a conductor who must demonstrate total mastery of rhythm in the midst of an ocean of structural complexity. But what a work! The orchestra is pushed to its dynamic limits and the conductor has to demand more and more from an orchestra which gradually becomes incredibly hectic to keep up with the timpani and brass, to say nothing of the woodwind and string sections, who never really get any respite. In short, the Viennese musicians will have to be on top form for this insanely demanding piece.

Production Théâtre des Champs-Elysées 
Rolex, partenaire exclusif de l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Vienne