Read on to discover seven works that call for political freedom....
Bernd Alois Zimmermann Musique pour les soupers du Roi Ubu
This crazy ballet by Bernd Alois Zimmermann – constructed as a patchwork of quotes from the music of other composers – is about a ruthless dictator determined to eliminate all art. It opens with a banquet to which he has invited famous poets and composers who, in the final movement, each plunge to their deaths through a trapdoor. The piece serves as a warning: without art, we lose democracy; culture is a necessity, essential to a healthy society. The piece is also laced with sarcastic, black humour, which I think will resonate with an English audience.
Robert Schumann Symphony No. 2 – Adagio espressivo
Schumann was a tortured soul who struggled with bipolar disorder, and you can hear that in his music. But in the third movement of his Second Symphony, he seems to be asking, ‘What would life look like if I could leave all of these problems behind?’ It’s a glimpse of a better world: so slow and beautiful. It should sound like a vast musical wave, creating a sense of openness and freedom. As someone who really values freedom, I find this vision especially moving.
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Benjamin Britten War Requiem
Nothing threatens freedom more than war, and Britten's War Requiem makes that abundantly clear. It opens with the familiar lines of the requiem mass, the Requiem aeternam. But then it launches into Wilfred Owen’s haunting poetry: ‘What passing bells for those who die as cattle?’ It’s a shocking moment, conjuring a world utterly devoid of freedom. To me, this piece stands as a powerful warning about the importance of dialogue over conflict. It asks us to reflect on what happens if we give up on the idea of freedom.
Galina Ustvolskaya Symphony No. 1
Galina Ustvolskaya is little known, and yet Shostakovich was fascinated by her. This work for orchestra and two boy sopranos sets poems by Italian writer Gianni Rodari, addressing themes like unemployment, racism, poverty and violence against children, and the music is equally shocking; Ustvolskaya was not afraid of ugly sounds. At a time when such music was unlikely to please the Communist authorities, Ustvolskaya continued to write boldly radical works and through this defiance, she preserved her inner freedom.
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Verdi Don Carlos
In this duet from Act II of Verdi's Don Carlos, Rodrigo asks King Philip for freedom for the people of Flanders, and Verdi’s music captures the spirit of liberty so powerfully yet with such economy. Suddenly, the score bursts into life: dramatic, passionate, with chromatic lines that crank up the tension. You can feel Rodrigo’s burning desire to fight for his people’s freedom. When he describes the nation’s peace as being like that of a graveyard, the orchestra erupts – almost volcanically – before settling back down. It’s brilliant musical rhetoric.
Dmitri Shostakovich Symphony No. 10 – Allegro
Shostakovich wrote his Tenth Symphony after the death of Stalin, when he could finally express the true of horror of that dictatorship through his music. The second movement is a portrait of Stalin: it’s so brutal, so dark, so ugly, driven by aggressive percussion and a stamping rhythm that vividly conveys the dictator’s brutality. You sense that Shostakovich, who had long been pressured to compose heroic-sounding music, all while living in constant fear for his life, is at last breaking free.
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Jean Sibelius Symphony No. 5 – Allegro molto
Sibelius composed his Fifth Symphony during the First World War, as he suffered from a deep depression. Yet, the music radiates an exhilarating sense of freedom – particularly in the final movement, which is inspired by swans taking flight. The beginning sounds a little like boiling water – frenetic and hot. But then comes this very slow melody with a hymn-like harmonic structure. Sibelius once described his symphony as an uphill journey – struggling until, at last, a door opens. My job as a conductor is to allow that final sense of freedom to come to the fore.
Who is Anja Bihlmaier?
German conductor Anja Bihlmaier studied at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg and later at the Mozarteum Salzburg, before holding posts at Staatsoper Hannover and Staatstheater Kassel. Since then, she has conducted ensembles ranging from the Bergen Philharmonic to the Seattle Symphony, and in September 2024 she became the BBC Philharmonic’s principal guest conductor. On 22 July, she led the BBC Philharmonic in Berlioz, Strauss and Mark Simpson at the BBC Proms, and makes her LSO debut in March 2026.