La Quarta de Xostakóvitx

Concert by the Orquesta Sinfónica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya conducted by Andris Poga, featuring the country premiere of a work by Pēteris Vasks and Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 4.

Andris Poga conducts the Orquesta Sinfónica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya in a programme combining two works of very different character. The first is Chant of Gratefulness, a new piece by Vasks, which will be heard for the first time in the country. Vasks, a Latvian composer, works within a spiritual and meditative idiom, with an austere writing in which silence and resonance play a structural role.

The second half is devoted to Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 4, one of the most radical scores in his catalogue. It was conceived shortly before the official condemnation by the Soviet regime, which led to its withdrawal even before its premiere. From the outset it unfolds a grotesque and tragic universe in which irony and violence coexist without concession, a work demanding of its performers and of strong impact for the listener.