For all that music is and can be — from the pens of its composers and into the lives of its performers and listeners — for all of its artistic expression, music is very often a powerful symbol of resistance and defiance.
Friday night at Strathmore, Music director Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra present their Off the Cuff series finale by examining Shostakovich’s resistance to Nazi aggression through his powerful Symphony No. 7, “Leningrad,” written in 1941 as the German forces began their 900-day siege on his beloved city.
“Off the Cuff is a behind-the-scenes look into the composer’s psyche and what was going on in the world when he or she wrote the piece,” Alsop explained.
| Onstage |
| Baltimore Symphony Orchestra |
| Off the Cuff Concert |
| » Where: Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda |
| » When: 8:15 p.m. Friday |
| » Info: $28 to $88; 410-783-8000; bsomusic.org |
In the world of Shostakovich, the summer of 1941 was a time of composition, when he wrote the first three movements of his Seventh Symphony; a time when the Nazis were inching closer to Leningrad, where they would eventually surround and attack the city. The composer, his wife and two sons were forced to relocate to Kuibyshev, the Soviet Union’s temporary capital. After the symphony’s 1942 premier, the piece was sought by orchestras throughout the Allied countries as both a symbol of, and a stand against Nazi atrocities.
Over an hour in length, the piece is noted for a brilliant crescendo, 10 minutes in length, representing Hitler’s advancing armies. A mournfully slow movement honors the tens of thousands who perished in the siege.
In order to provide additional background and context for this particular Shostakovich work, the concert will feature a visual presentation by BSO-Peabody fellow Lee Mills.
“Over the course of the last several months, BSO-Peabody fellow Lee Mills has sourced archival images and video and has worked closely with Maestra Alsop to compile a documentary-style montage of life around the time of the Nazi invasion and siege of Leningrad,” said BSO vice president of artistic operations, Matt Spivey. “The imagery is incredibly powerful and adds further depth and understanding of the suffering and struggle that the inhabitants of Leningrad were experiencing when Shostakovich’s dramatic Seventh Symphony was written and first performed.”
