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The programme of the fifth 2024/2025 Academy Concert combines two composers from the German-Austrian late Romantic period, both known for their lavishly lush and at the same time contrapuntally tight orchestral language, with two from the far north in Finland. In his second symphonic poem, Richard Strauss expresses the life principle of a man constantly seeking new excitement, who is driven solely by constant change, until in the end the “fuel is all gone”, and he no longer even resists his departure.

Two magnificent orchestral works from two very different periods – Joseph Haydn’s Farewell Symphony and Dmitri D. Shostakovitch’s Symphony No. 8. Both are characterised by a dichotomy of sorrow and rebellion. The members of the royal court orchestra at Esterházy Palace wanted to go home to their families after a long summer season. The Prince, however, would not release them. Haydn struck a subversive note of protest for the welfare of his fellow musicians, by having one instrument after another fall silent and withdraw at the end. The Prince, as lore has it, understood the message and gave in. Shostakovich found the courage not to sing songs of jubilation at the end of the Second World War, but instead lamented the deaths of millions and loss of personal freedom under the Stalinist regime. “All that is dark and ignominious will disappear, all that is beautiful will triumph,” Shostakovich explained in a newspaper article. The dictator heard a threat in the contradiction between the music and the asserted expression, and promptly had all performances of the piece banned. His instinct did not fail him. Today, Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8 is considered a, “tragedy of the present” (Ivan Martynov), and has lost none of its topicality.