Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 6 – Liverpool Philharmonic

On a very cold February night, the cozy Liverpool Philharmonic hall proved a glorious respite for more than one sense. The evening’s layout began with Missy Mazzoli’s River Rouge Transfiguration, followed by Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D major, and finished off with Shostakovich’s Symphony in D minor. Lidiya Yankovskaya conducts the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra on this occasion.

Mazzoli’s contemporary River Rouge Transfiguration is given an introductory explanation by conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya, warming us up to the shop floor of the Ford factory  in Detroit that the music will soon transport us to. Mazzoli, deemed ‘Brooklyn’s post-Millennial Mozart’ by Time Out Magazine, brings the factory floor to us with an awe and holiness. Indeed, she says that in the writing of the piece, she was inspired by “writers from every decade of the last century comparing the city’s factories to cathedrals and alters”. Her soaring, incessant strings and punctuated brass make for a transportive opening ten minutes.

As we move along to Brahms’, soloist Alena Baeva joins the stage, setting it alight with both her talent and a suitably electric orange crushed velvet gown. Baeva’s energy and talent are exhilarating, as she is supported by the similarly talented orchestra, but as the first movement gets underway, there is a sense of musical whiplash as we understand what is to come. Brahms’ romanticism is sandwiched between Mazzoli’s modern and Shostakovich’s ferociousness, while also being the longest of his two counterparts. While Shostakovich was inspired by late Romanticism, it was more so Mahler’s dramatic boldness, which is also apparent in Mazzoli’s work, rather than Brahms’ meandering concerto’s. While the talent is undeniable, I found the programming somewhat jarring.

This is quickly forgotten, however, when the interval ends and the Philharmonic Orchestra once again light up the auditorium, this time with the Soviet maestro Dmitri Shostakovich. The Sixth symphony came as a pressure to the 32-year-old after the premiere of a hugely successful Fifth. He wanted to subvert expectations and is still doing so with this symphony, I expect, as the form differs from a regular symphonic structure: he begins with a slow, longer movement, and finishes off with two shorter, galloping movements. Shostakovich himself uses the words ‘spring’, ‘joy’ and ‘youth’. The intended energy was felt.

Shostakovich’s use of percussion and double bass are particularly invigorating, as the bass drum, xylophone and bass drum light up the auditorium with a wonderfully cinematic touch. While tonight’s performance was a one-off, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra return with Franck’s Symphony in D minor on the 2^nd of March, and again with Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 on March 29^th, and I greatly look forward to both.

More information can be found on the Philharmonic’s website, https://www.liverpoolphil.com/current-events/

Reviewer: Anna Ní Dhúill

Reviewed: 13th February 2025

North West End UK Rating: