LIVE AT THE CONCERTGEBOUW week 11 "In 1959, when the Cold War experienced low temperatures indeed the Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich was allowed to travel to the United States together with cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, the dedictee of a brandnew cello concerto. Conductor Eugene Ormandy and his Philadelphia Orchestra made the first recording of the concerto with Rostropovich the unbelievably secure soloist. This is a quote from the original sleeve notes:

The USSR scored the artistic equivalent of a manned rocket to Mars here in Philadelphia on a Friday afternoon last November. Five prime Soviet composers, led by Shostakovich sat in box number two at the left of the stage and watched a star Soviet instrumentalist perform the first western reading of the new cello concerto before an audience that included many of the top US composers.

The result: on the part of the audience and the orchestra: open delight and recognition in the presence of a great new work, its author and its extraordianry soloist; on the part of the Soviet visitors, immense praise for the orchestra and its conductor. All in all, a rather unusual phenomenon – a triumph in which US and USSR cooperated fully, and together enjoyed the resultant acclaim.” [RNW-host Hans Haffmans]
 
photo: image courtesy NASA. Artist's conception of a craft manned Mars mission

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra - Mariss Jansons, conductor - Johannes Moser, cello
 
Dmitri Shostakovich: Cello Concerto no. 1 in Es major op. 107
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony no. 3 in Es major op. 55
 
 
 

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