Barbican Concerts

SHOSTAKOVICH Violin Concerto No 2
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No 1

Valery Gergiev conductor
Sergei Khachatryan violin
London Symphony Orchestra

Tickets: £8 £14 £19 £25 £32

Shostakovich’s Second Violin Concerto (1967) inhabits, according to music writer Gerard McBurney, ‘a world of half-lights, confessions and deceptions.’ One hundred years previously, Tchaikovsky had approached his First Symphony (1866) with all the anxious fervour of youth, working until a doctor declared him ‘one step away from insanity.’ His brother agreed, ‘No other work cost him such effort and suffering.’ Yet the composer always retained great affection for this most lyrical ‘sin of my youth.’

1. Book now

Event Download

23 January programme