Shostakovich: Festive Overture, Op. 96 | Michael Sanderling and the Dresden Philharmonic

The year 1954 marked a turning point in the life of Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich. It was the first year after the death of dictator Joseph Stalin, which meant the composer no longer had to live in constant fear of reprisal or even death. This sense of new beginnings can be felt in the music of the short Festive Overture in A major, Op. 96. The work is performed by the Dresden Philharmonic under the baton of Michael Sanderling. The concert took place on the occasion of the reopening of the Dresden Kulturpalast on April 28, 2017.

Shostakovich's Festive Overture was commissioned by Moscow's Bolshoi Theater to mark the celebration of the 37th anniversary of the October Revolution. According to the Soviet musicologist Lev Lebedinsky, who was close to Shostakovich at the time, Bolshoi conductor Vassili Nebolsin visited the composer at his apartment in October 1954 and asked him to write a short, festive work "the sooner the better." Just three days later, the piece was finished.

After the dress rehearsal when he first hear the piece, critic Lebedinsky raved about it, calling it a "brilliant, effervescent work whose lively energy overflowed like uncorked champagne." The composer himself modestly referred to it as "just a short piece of music, festive in spirit."
The overture quickly gained popularity and was performed for numerous celebrations in the Soviet Union, including the opening of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Later, when Shostakovich was gaining international fame, it was performed abroad, as well.

The score rolls out the red carpet for the orchestra's wind instruments. In addition to the standard double instrumentation (two flutes, three oboes, three clarinets in A, two bassoons, one contrabassoon; four horns in F, three trumpets in B-flat, two trombones, one bass trombone, one tuba), Shostakovich added an additional brass section consisting of four horns in F, three trumpets in B-flat, two trombones and one bass trombone.

For the Dresden Philharmonic, the concert on April 28, 2017 marked the beginning of a new era. For the first time in its 150-year history, the orchestra found a new home in the renovated Kulturpalast, with its outstanding architecture and first-class acoustics. Michael Sanderling, a renowned Shostakovich expert, conducted the orchestra. His father, conductor Kurt Sanderling, was a friend of Dmitri Shostakovich who was considered an authority on the interpretation of the famous Russian composer's works, especially in the West.

© 2017 Accentus Music

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