About the Concert

The eyes of every oboist begin to light up when one speaks of Martinu's Oboe Concerto. After all, it is one of the most demanding, but also most beautiful solo concertos for the queen of the woodwind instruments. Our solo oboist Johannes Pfeiffer will bring this sunny and cheerful work to the stage of the Kulturpalast. Shostakovich's 15th Symphony should also be cheerful, at least that was the composer's intention. It begins with a kind of scherzo full of humorous echoes. But from the second movement on, the mood changes: Sadness, solemnity, doubt, sarcasm and a longing for death gain the upper hand. Shostakovich probably suspected that this would be his last work. All the more poignant are the last notes, which sound as if a heart had stopped beating.