Belgian National Orchestra, Hermus & Gatto

Lorenzo Gatto, laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Competition, opens this concert with Saint-Saëns’ Third Violin Concerto. Next on the programme is Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony. This colossal work, written during the darkest days of the war with Nazi Germany, the infamous Battle of Stalingrad, is perhaps Shostakovich’s most tragic composition. In five movements, the Russian composer attempts to come to terms, both emotionally and philosophically, with excessive violence and endless suffering. Unlike Mahler’s Second Symphony, which is also in Do Minor, Shostakovich leaves no room for resurrection. The pianissimo ending suggests not triumph but an orphaned scrambling home.