After years torturing his people literally and psychologically, Joseph Stalin died on 5 March 1953. All the trauma of the Stalin years made their way into Shostakovich’s Symphony No 10, whose brooding desolation rears up in terror, despair and violence. In the symphony’s cruel military march and furious scherzo are pictures of Stalin and the culture he presided over.
Latvian composer Pētēris Vasks knew all about the misery of Soviet oppression, but his Musica Serena is a testament to hope. His compatriot Andris Poga conducts this concert of powerful statements from the east of Europe, whose centerpiece is the world premiere of Bent Sørensen’s new Harpsichord Concerto under the fingers of the incomparable Mahan Esfahani.
This concert was originally presented as Shostakovich's fight against Stalin. By changing the title to Ukraine in our Hearts, we want to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine. We are also happy to be able to include the Ukranian composer Valentin Silvestrov on the programme;
Euromaidan” and "Revolution of Dignity" were the names given to the Ukrainian citizens' protests, which began in November 2013 and reached its bloody peak in February 2014, with 80 deaths. Again and again, during this period of turmoil, Valentin Silvestrov went to Majdan Square in Kiev, where he heard the prayers and songs of the peaceful demonstrators, and then the shots. Almost in the eye of the typhoon, he wrote numerous choruses - hymns, elegies, prayers, requiem movements - in this way fighting with musical means for his country, and manifesting his resistance as unshakeable faith in the roots of its culture and religion. Later, Silvestrov has grouped these choruses into four cycles, which in turn he combined into a major “Majdan cycle of cycles" that is supposed to be performed as a whole (all 15 sentences attacca), of which the present "Prayer for Ukraine" is only a preliminary publication.