Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony, rapturously received on its 1937 premiere, ends on a note of such seemingly unadulterated triumph that it pleased even the Soviet officials who had denounced the composer following his subversive opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Whether intended earnestly or tinged with bitter irony, the symphony remains one of his most captivating works from first note to last, a work of great art born out of constrained and difficult circumstances—and a perfect finale for this emotion-packed concert by the superb Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and their chief conductor Domingo Hindoyan. Shostakovich's masterpiece is preceded by Albert Roussel's richly orchestrated neoclassical ballet score for Bacchus and Ariadne, a piece Hindoyan and the RLPO recorded on their acclaimed 2022 album, as well as the world premiere of a stunning new piano concerto by Jamaican-born British composer Eleanor Alberga, with Leeds Competition-winning virtuoso Alim Beisembayev in the solo role!

Alim Beisembayev appears courtesy of Warner Classics.