Maestro Series 3: QSO with Wispelwey & Aadland at Concert Hall, QPAC

Confessional, disciplined and wild, Shostakovich's first Cello Concerto was written for his friend Mstislav Rostropovich. Pieter Wispelwey, the garlanded Dutch poet of the cello takes a fresh yet equally rewarding approach combining stunning lyricism with a crisp and spiky rhythmical attack. Music lovers wonder whether Shostakovich was a hero or a propaganda tool of Stalinist Russia. Richard Strauss side steps who is or may not be a hero by branding himself as one in the marvellous tone poem Ein Heldenleben. If Shostakovich's language is beautifully lean, this imaginative, biographical spree leaves no instrument unturned in an adventurous exploration of the post-Wagnerian orchestra.