Light in the Shadows

Julian Rachlin, conductor
Etienne Boudreault, bassoon
Turku Philharmonic Orchestra

Mieczysław Weinberg: Sinfonietta no 1 op. 41 (duration 20′)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Bassoon Concerto in B flat Major K. 191 (duration 19′)
Intermission, duration 20′
Dmitri Šostakovitš: Symphony no 5 in d Minor op. 47 (duration 46′)

TPO’s own principal bassoonist Etienne Boudreault will perform as soloist in Mozart’s concerto in an evening conducted by Julian Rachlin. No bassoon concerto in the last 250 years has achieved the same popularity as Mozart’s serene and luminous composition from 1774. The soft and warm sound of the bassoon is contrasted with the dramatic and even sombre orchestral works by Weinberg and Shostakovich. The Fifth Symphony was written during Stalin’s purges and, in the composer’s own words, is “joy under the whip.” The weight of Stalinism – and the significance of Shostakovich – also peeks through the staves of Weinberg’s Sinfonietta, composed ten years later.