Exeter Symphony Orchestra, with emerging, already internationally-acclaimed soloist, Kristiana Ignatjeva, is delighted to present a concert comprising Bax, Shostakovich and Elgar. We will also bid farewell to conductor Brian Northcott after 15 illustrious years directing the orchestra.
Arnold Bax wrote his Symphony No 4 in 1930 and drew inspiration from his great love of the sea to produce a work which is arguably the most optimistic of seven symphonies. Scored for large orchestra – ranging in pitch from piccolo and three flutes, through six horns, to euphonium and tuba, and supported by huge percussion – the symphony opens in blustery, yet triumphant mood, evokes a quiet, dreamy day afloat in the second movement, then concludes happily and unusually storm-free. Its shades of Richard Strauss and Mahler render it an intriguing piece.
Dmitri Shostakovich’s Festive Overture is a vivacious, brilliant firework, yet its stated solemn intent was to mark the 37th (or perhaps the 30th) anniversary of the October Revolution in Russia. The now resoundingly popular number was premiered in Moscow in 1954, but Shostakovich may have dusted off a 1947 commission from ‘his bottom drawer’ once the post-Stalin era cultural thaw was under way. That much remains uncertain, but whatever the Soviet politics, the overture’s undoubted energy and enduring appeal surely account for its prominent use during the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics, the 2009 Nobel Prize Concert, and, of course, in our programme.
The young Latvian cellist Kristiana Ignatjeva is already no stranger to concert platforms across Europe and North America, so it is with great excitement and immense pride that we welcome her to Exeter to perform the Elgar concerto. The idea for this masterwork came to the composer as he awoke from anaesthesia after his tonsillectomy in 1919 whereupon he asked for pen and paper to write the first theme. The piece then quickly recovered from an inadequately rehearsed premiere with a milestone recording by Pablo Casals under Elgar’s own baton. Its prominent place in the repertory however, and its contemporary popularity really stem from the Jacqueline du Pré/Barbirolli/LSO performance in 1965 and the more recent recordings of Julian Lloyd Webber, Steven Isserlis, Yo-yo Ma and Truls Mørk. So, close to the centenary of its first performance on 27 October 1919, we are delighted that Kristiana has chosen to perform the eminently recognisable Elgar Cello Concerto, cornerstone of the repertoire, with Exeter Symphony Orchestra.