Russians to play two concerts in Chch

Press, 26 February 1986, Page 18

Russians to play two concerts in Chch

Russia’s State Symphony Orchestra will give two concerts in Christchurch in April, the only concerts it will give on its first visit to New Zealand.

Yevgeni Svetlanov will conduct a programme of Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky at the first Christchurch concert.

Opening the concert will be Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece, “Romeo and Juliet Overture.” In the Tchaikovsky violin concerto the Solo violinist will be Valery Klimov.

Klimov has been inseparably identified with this work for many years.

The concert concludes with one of the landmarks of Russian music, Mussorgsky’s “Pictures from an Exhibition.” The finale is “The Great Gate pt Kiev” with its sounds of old Russia. The second concert, to be conducted by Vladimir Verbitsky will feature works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich. One of the younger generation of Soviet conductors, Verbitsky brings to his performances a warmth and excitement.

The concert will begin with the “Festival Overture” of Shostakovich, a work which in a few minutes exploits all the

orchestra’s virtuosity. Lyubov Timofeeva will be soloist in the Rachmaninoff second piano concerto.

The concert will conclude with Symphony No, 4 by Tchaikovsky, the work that the composer considered his most perfect.

Founded by a special Government decree, the U.S.S.R. State Symphony Orchestra gave its first concert in the concert hall of the Moscow Conservatoire in October 1936.

The conductors on that occasion were Alexander Gauk, founder, first artistic director and chief conductor of the orchestra .and the distinguished German conductor, Erik Kleiber. The orchestra soon became an integral part of Soviet musical life participating in many important musical events and festivals including the centenary celebrations of Tchaikovsky’s birth in 1940.

During the Second World War members of the orchestra continued performing in Central Asia, the Urals and Siberia providing concerts for soldiers and those in hospitals, factories and on farms.

In 1943 the orchestra celebrated its return to Moscow with a performance of Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony. Yevgeni Svetlanov was appointed as chief conductor and artistic director in 1965. The orchestra has most recently taken part in the first and second Inter-

national Festivals of Modern Music in Moscow, in the cultural programme of the 1980 Olympics and in the festival marking the seventy-fifth anniversary of the birth of Shostakovich. The concerts will both be in the Christchurch Town Hall. The first is on April 25, the second April 26.