Tugan Sokhiev Conductor
Lukas Geniušas Piano
PROGRAM
Firsova The Garden of Dreams: Hommage to Shostakovich
Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2
INTERMISSION
Shostakovich Symphony No. 5
Tchaikovsky's Second Piano Concerto may be overshadowed by his more famous First, but it's the piece that earned Lukas Geniušas top honors at the Tchaikovsky Competition. Balanchine, too, recognized its consummate beauty, choosing it as the score for his tribute to classical Russian ballet. The government decided what was art when Shostakovich wrote his vehement and complicated Fifth Symphony under an oppressive Soviet regime (and threat of the Gulag). Elena Firsova—blacklisted and exiled from the Soviet Union in the latter part of the 20th century—pays tribute to her compatriot with The Garden of Dreams. Tugan Sokhiev, music director of the Bolshoi Theatre, leads this incisive program.