Dresden Philharmonic with Michael Sanderling and Arabella Steinbacher (violin)

Tchaikovsky’s opulent opener to Act III of his Opera Eugene Onegin ensures a suitably grand prelude to the first Nottingham visit by German violinist Arabella Steinbacher. Praised by the New York Times for her “finely polished technique” and armed with a repertoire of over thirty concertos, she’s one of the leading virtuosos of our time and the perfect soloist for Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. Writing the piece on the shores of Lake Geneva proved to be the perfect antidote to the composer’s despond following the break-up of his marriage, his rekindled spirit evident in its soaring lyricism and bustling finale.

Shostakovich lived much of his life under the oppressive Soviet regime of Joseph Stalin and his Fifth Symphony is testimony to its impact on his creative output. The official censuring of his 1936 opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk left Shostakovich fearing for his future and even led him to withdraw his progressive Fourth Symphony from public view. His Fifth Symphony, though, was an adept escape act, on the surface a dutiful piece of patriotic struggle ending in triumph but which, nevertheless, spoke volumes about human suffering and endurance in dark times. From arresting opening to blistering finale it exerts an iron grip throughout, no more so than in its searing and heartfelt slow movement.

Free pre-concert talk, 6.30pm in the auditorium: Jonathan James introduces the programme.