Ashkenazy conducts Shostakovich | Philharmonia Orchestra

A fascinating programme that finds two creative giants, towards the end of their respective careers, composing with bracing inventiveness and insight. The unbearably poignant Death in Venice was Britten's final opera, composed as a tribute to his beloved partner, the tenor Peter Pears. This was during the early 1970s when Shostakovich was concurrently working on his last Symphony, a tour-de-force of coruscating ingenuity that includes a number of musical quotations, including a snippet from Rossini's William Tell. When asked about it, Shostakovich reasoned that 'I don't quite know myself why the quotations are there, but I could not not include them.'

This performance is preceded by a free concert at 6pm in the Royal Festival Hall from the Music of Today series celebrating the 60th birthday of composer John Zorn.

Suite, from Death in Venice

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)

Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No 2 in G

Dmitry Shostakovich (1906-1975)

Symphony No 15 in A

Dmitry Shostakovich (1906-1975)

Location