Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for String Orchestra is one of the composer’s most heartfelt pieces, blending lush Romanticism with the clarity, wit and elegance of his hero Mozart. Tchaikovsky was one of music’s greatest melodists, and the opening movement, after its grand and stately opening, rollicks along with a cheerful tune. A graceful Waltz follows, revealing a Mozartian lightness in Tchaikovsky’s subtle elaboration of its textures and melodies. In the third movement 'Elegy', Tchaikovsky reaches into something very deep and personal, without ever losing the charm and magic that characterise the Serenade as a whole. For the Finale, Tchaikovsky reaches into the treasures of Russian folksong to bring the Serenade to a dancing finish.

ACO Principal Cellist Timo Veikko-Valve then takes centre stage for a transcendent performance of Tchaikovsky’s Andante Cantabile. Originally written as a string quartet, the music at its premiere so moved the great author Tolstoy that he dissolved in tears at its beauty and passion. Tchaikovsky knew immediately that the world needed to hear this piece, so he reworked it for larger forces, adding the colour, warmth and richness of the orchestra’s string section to the poignant longing of the cello’s sublime song.

The Chamber Symphony in C minor is an arrangement for string orchestra by Russian conductor Rudolf Barshai of Shostakovich’s Eighth String Quartet, authorised by the composer himself. The quartet, composed in 1960 shortly after the composer had reluctantly joined the Communist Party, is one of Shostakovich’s most popular chamber works and is the only substantial work written outside of his native Russia. Shostakovich composed the Quartet while residing in East Germany, where he was working on the score to Five Days, Five Nights, a film about the ruin of Dresden during World War II. Overwhelmed with sadness for the bombed city and the recollections of those who lived through these horrors, Shostakovich dedicated the work ‘In memory of the victims of fascism and war’. Its five movements flow without a break, passing through both sombre and war-like musical landscapes before fading into a silence both rich and empty with grief.

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PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840–1893)
Serenade for String Orchestra in C major, Op. 48 [28’39]
1 I. Pezzo in forma di Sonatina 8’59
2 II. Waltz 3’42
3 III. Elegy 8’22
4 IV. Finale 7’36

5 Andante Cantabile for cello and string orchestra 6’58
Timo-Veikko Valve cello
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906–1975)
Chamber Symphony in C minor, Op. 110a [21’19]
Arranged by Rudolf Barshai
6 I. Largo – 5’00
7 II. Allegro molto – 2’40
8 III. Allegretto – 4’15
9 IV. Largo – 5’02
10 V. Largo 4’22

ARTISTS
Australian Chamber Orchestra
Richard Tognetti director