Symphonies In The Shadow Of Death by Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, P. I., Ó (2021/2021), Seoltóir Klaus Mäkelä, Konserthus, Oslo, Norway

Klaus Mäkelä conducts great works by two symphonic giants: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s sixth symphony received its world premiere just before the composer’s demise, and Dmitri Shostakovich composed his Symphony No. 14 crippled by an intense fear of death. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) was at the summit of his career when he conducted the world premiere of his own sixth symphony in St. Petersburg, on 28 October, 1893. The symphony gained instant popularity, but he was never to experience his own success – he died suddenly only nine days later. Symphony No. 6 has been given the name Pathetique – the passionate. The composer indicated that he had a more concrete programme in mind, but he never had the opportunity to reveal whether the music had a concrete theme. Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) was admitted to hospital in the very same city (at the time known as Leningrad) and in great pain, in January 1969. Visitors were forbidden due to a flu epidemic, and the composer took advantage of his enforced solitude to finish his Symphony No. 14. The work is based on eleven poems by poets who all died young. Shostakovich was strongly influenced by an intense fear of death during this time, and pushed the premiere forwards in order to be sure to be there. At the concert he took to the stage and explained his intention behind the work: to remind the listener that “life is beautiful”.