麻豆社

It鈥檚 a bitter irony, but bad politics sometimes produce great art. Shostakovich wrote his Eighth Symphony at the height of the Second World War, and every bar of this colossal work resounds with violent struggle. Schnittke鈥檚 Viola Concerto was born in the dying days of the Soviet Union: a voice of sorrow, mischief and subversion beneath the grey skies of the Cold War.

These two masterpieces are two pages of the same twentieth century story 鈥� dissident masters, speaking truth to power in a time when the wrong notes (like the wrong opinions) carried a brutal price. Together, they add up to a formidable programme from guest conductor Hannu Lintu, with the 鈥渢errifically talented鈥� (The Times) Timothy Ridout bringing both poetry and passion to Schnittke鈥檚 remarkable concerto.