Sibelius, Bosmans, and Shostakovich

Santtu-Matias Rouvali is standing in at short notice for conductor emeritus Riccardo Chailly, who greatly regrets having had to cancel. Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine, which the orchestra strongly condemns, lends even greater weight and significance to the programme. After careful discussions with our musicians and conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali, it was decided not to change any of it.  

For the first time in over seventy years, the orchestra performs Henriëtte Bosmans’s beautiful Concertstuk for violin and orchestra. Concertmaster Vesko Eschkenazy is the soloist. Bosmans had a close relationship with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. In World War II the half-jewish pianist and composer was banned from the concert podium, after refusing to comply to the occupier’s demands. She showed resistance in her compositions. Seventy years after her death, it is time to get reacquainted with Bosmans’ music.

The Concertgebouw Orchestra has never performed Dmitry Shostakovich’s controversial Symphony No. 12 (‘The Year 1917’) in concert. Did Shostakovich give in to the Soviet regime with this homage to the Russian Revolution? Was it a veiled parody, or a caricature of Lenin? With Shostakovich, the story behind the music is never simple. The opening work puts Shostakovich’s symphony in perspective. Rouvali conducts his compatriot Jean Sibelius’s Finlandia, which in 1900 was widely regarded as a protest against the withdrawal of Finnish autonomy by Russia. In 1917, the Russian Revolution finally created the opportunity for Finland, Ukraine, the Baltic States and other countries to declare independence. When Finland’s independence was again heavily fought over by the Soviet Union in World War II, Sibelius's Finlandia Hymn became an unofficial national anthem.

Henriette Bosmans at the BBC

From 7 to 11 March, Henriëtte Bosmans is Composer of the Week on BBC Radio 3 (each day from noon to 1 p.m. GMT; or from 1 to 2 p.m. CET).