Sanderling and Hadelich

Benjamin Britten sensed that the Second World War would break out soon. He couldn't stay in England, so he sailed to Canada. The unbearable weight of this decision for him, as a devout pacifist, can be heard in his music. During the crossing, he composed his Violin Concerto in D minor, which will be performed by Augustin Hadelich in our concert. Dmitri Shostakovich's Eighth Symphony also reflects the theme of war, albeit composed on the other side, in Stalin's Soviet Union. For Shostakovich, it was a balancing act: he did not want to write optimistic music, but it also couldn't be entirely tragic. The result is a work that mirrors these contradictions. Michael Sanderling is considered one of the leading Shostakovich experts among today's conductors. As a child, he personally experienced the close friendship his father had with the composer.