Brahms and Shostakovich with the SWR Symphonieorchester

Mar 14, 2019

At the end of the month, Pablo joins the SWR Symphonieorchester to conduct a program featuring works by Brahms and Shostakovich in Stuttgart and Freiburg. The first two concerts take place on March 21 and 22 at the Liederhalle Stuttgart. The performance on March 22 will be broadcast LIVE on SWR2 and SWR-online. The third and last concert will be at the Konzerthaus Freiburg on March 24.

Heras-Casado will conduct the SWR Vokalensemble in Brahms’ Warum ist das Licht gegeben dem Mühseligen (‘Why is the light given to the weary?‘), a motet for mixed choir a cappella, and Schicksalslied (‘Song of Destiny’) for mixed choir and orchestra. Brahms’ choral works are a melancholic precursor to Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 in D minor, a work written at the height of the Stalinist purges of 1937. During this time, Shostakovich emerged from a period of total musical banishment, calling his fifth symphony “a response to my critics.” The public responded jubilantly, constituting one of the most significant turning points in his artistic life.