Philharmonic Close-Up – Shostakovich and Gubaidulina

Strings from the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, joined by guest pianist Stefan Vârtejaru, form a quintet to perform two compelling piano quintets by Dmitri Shostakovich and Sofia Gubaidulina. We also hear Shostakovich’s playful and poetically beautiful First Piano Trio, dedicated to Tatiana Glivenko, one of his early loves.

The quintet was composed much later, against a darker backdrop – the war year of 1940. In music full of contrasts and unexpected turns, Shostakovich conjures up tragicomic scenes, musical reminiscences and gestures of hope. It is one of his most popular and widely admired chamber works.

Sofia Gubaidulina was initially strongly influenced by her compatriot Shostakovich, something clearly evident in the piano quintet she wrote during her studies at the Moscow Conservatory. At the same time, much is already present that would later become characteristic of her music: meditative simplicity, dark intensity and sudden flashes of playfulness. One also senses the quiet, spiritual dimension that would come to permeate much of her work.