Radio 3 Live in Concert: Britten & Shostakovich
Mark Elder conducts the Hallé Orchestra
Live from the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester Mark Elder conducts the Hallé Orchestra present a Britten premiere and Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony.
The first half features the world premiere of Benjamin Britten’s ‘Britain to America’ to mark the centenary of the composer’s birth. Jointly commissioned by CBS Radio and the BBC, this piece offers an insightful look at the composer’s work during his time in America.
In the second half, we hear the orchestra perform Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7, the ‘Leningrad’. Composed during the traumatic siege of Leningrad during the Second World War, the piece became a symbol of resistance and triumph over acute diversity; the score was even smuggled out Russia on microfilm so that a performance could be given in America.
- Article Type: | TV and Radio |