Jaap van Zweden will step in for Kirill Petrenko during the concerts on June 22nd and 23rd with a modified programme. Ticket holders have been informed via email.'

Jaap van Zweden conducts Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony

Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9 and Tchaikovsky’s tragic “Pathétique”

Jaap van Zweden - image: Bert Hulselmans

Under the baton of Jaap van Zweden, the Concertgebouw Orchestra performs Shostakovich’s wayward Ninth and Tchaikovsky’s emotionally charged Sixth Symphony, “Pathétique”.

The “Pathétique” is widely regarded as the peak of Tchaikovsky's symphonic oeuvre.

Concert programme

  • Dmitri Shostakovich

    Symphony No. 9

  • -- interval --

  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Symphony No. 6 'Pathétique'

Performers

About this concert

Jaap van Zweden leads the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in two very personal symphonies. Pyotr Tchaikovsky probes the depths of the human soul in his Sixth Symphony. The subtitle “Pathétique” indicates its tragic character, which is particularly moving in the slowly fading final episode. Tchaikovsky himself considered the Sixth his best work, but died shortly after its completion. The “Pathétique” is widely regarded as the peak of Tchaikovsky's symphonic oeuvre.

Half a century later, in 1945, Shostakovich's Ninth Symphony (paired with Tchaikovsky's Fifth during its premiere) angered Stalin. Expected to deliver a grand paean to Soviet victory, Shostakovich surprised friend and foe with a burst of creative frenzy in the form of a short, small-scale and relatively light-hearted symphony. Many feared that the composer would be exiled to Siberia. In 1948 Shostakovich's music was banned; the Ninth was allowed to be performed in the Sovier Union again in 1955 – four years after the Dutch premiere by the Concertgebouw Orchestra under the baton of Otto Klemperer.

Dates and tickets

About this concert

Jaap van Zweden leads the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in two very personal symphonies. Pyotr Tchaikovsky probes the depths of the human soul in his Sixth Symphony. The subtitle “Pathétique” indicates its tragic character, which is particularly moving in the slowly fading final episode. Tchaikovsky himself considered the Sixth his best work, but died shortly after its completion. The “Pathétique” is widely regarded as the peak of Tchaikovsky's symphonic oeuvre.

Half a century later, in 1945, Shostakovich's Ninth Symphony (paired with Tchaikovsky's Fifth during its premiere) angered Stalin. Expected to deliver a grand paean to Soviet victory, Shostakovich surprised friend and foe with a burst of creative frenzy in the form of a short, small-scale and relatively light-hearted symphony. Many feared that the composer would be exiled to Siberia. In 1948 Shostakovich's music was banned; the Ninth was allowed to be performed in the Sovier Union again in 1955 – four years after the Dutch premiere by the Concertgebouw Orchestra under the baton of Otto Klemperer.