Eivind Gullberg Jensen is both chief conductor and tour guide at this concert, as the program encompasses five totally different countries. Ancient Persia rises in Maurice Ravel’s overture Shéhérazade, inspired by tales from One Thousand and One Nights. Meanwhile, the colorful, refined instrumentation reveals that the music is of French origin. For the excursion to Russia, world star Truls Mørk takes the stage. His interpretations of Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto are already legendary. It is a piece that few cellists dare to tackle, and which Mørk turns into something incredibly thrilling. Shostakovich wrote the work when, after years of state terror, he finally gained a little more artistic freedom. Here, you hear both his traumas and an almost childlike playfulness.
From Jean Sibelius, Finland’s national composer, comes the somewhat lesser-known Second Symphony. “In this, I bare my soul,” the composer himself said. He may have been referring to his fervent desire for Finnish independence, and indeed the final section sounds like a proud national anthem. But there is also Mediterranean warmth in it, for Sibelius wrote the piece in sunny Italy.

Program

M. Ravel
Shéhérazade: Ouverture “La Féerie”
D. Sjostakovitsj
Concerto for cello and orchestra nr.1, op.107
J. Sibelius
Symphony nr.2 in D gr.t., op.43