Britten / Bartok / Shostakovich Concert & On Demand

It may seem strange to begin a concert with a seven-minute opera excerpt but bear with me. The “Passacaglia” from Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes, with its ominous and foreboding opening viola solo, is the highlight of the opera where the narrow-minded and blinkered townspeople close in on their prey. Similarly, Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony composed just after the death of Stalin, depicts the confrontation between the dictator himself (portrayed ...