At Tanglewood, August 9, 1975, legendary cellist Mistislav Rostropovich had just finished performing the Cello Concerto No. 2 by his old friend Dmitri Shostakovich (like the composer's more familiar First, written for and dedicated the great cellist), with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in its BSO premiere. The news that Shostakovich had just died came during the intermission that followed. Rostropovich, who was scheduled to conduct Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony on the second half, delivered the news from the stage, and Galina Vishnevskaya, and the eminent Russian soprano (and wife of Rostropovich), who was also performing, sang a lament immediately after the announcement. The performance of the Shostakovich Fifth that day, already emotionally charged, became even more poignant as Rostropovich, with tears in his eyes, kissed the score and placed it back on the conductor's stand, and the music that followed became a profound expression of grief.
On this special edition of Sunday on Blue Lake in honor of 50th anniversary of the death of Shostakovich, Foley Schuler will recreate elements of that historic concert, including the composer's beloved Symphony No. 5 with Rostropovich on the podium (in this case leading the National Symphony Orchestra), and also featured as soloist with the BSO in the Largo from the Cello Concerto No. 2. We will also hear the composer's very last work—completed just a few weeks before his death—the Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 147, as well as music of memorial by one of the composers most cherished by Shostakovich, Modest Mussorgsky, and more.
You can hear Sunday on Blue Lake with Foley Schuler every Sunday morning from 9 until noon on Blue Lake Public Radio.
