ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien / Gautier Capuçon / Boreyko

»Die Presse« described the orchestra's last concert under the direction of Shostakovich expert Andrey Boreyko at the Wiener Konzerthaus as an RSO finest hour. While the Eighth was on the programme in May 2024, he and the orchestra are now devoting themselves to Shostakovich's 10th Symphony, the first after the end of the Second World War, a work with violently roaring towers of sound and cantilenas that aim into the void. The lower instruments, such as the double basses and cellos, often form the tonal foundation.

The cello also plays the leading role in the first part of the concert: Gautier Capuçon is the soloist in the concerto »Les chants de l'aube« by composer and organist Thierry Escaich, which was written for him. Capuçon's »cello really has a very full sound, in a way it sings. Since I received the commission for this piece, and it was really particularly inspiring, I heard his cello in its high and low registers and it just seemed to respond to the other cellos and the orchestra«, says Escaich. Baroque arias play just as important a role for him as – in the third movement – a dance at dawn (»aube«), which »arises out of nothing and wants to outstrip the orchestra at the end.« Arvo Pärt's »Swansong«, composed in 2013, is heard at the beginning of the concert.