‘Belgian National Orchestra, Wolff & Mørk’

Shostakovich's Symphony No. 11 was written in 1957 on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of the October Revolution (1917) and expresses the bloody suppression of the 1905 revolution, when hundreds of workers were murdered because they had demanded reforms from the Tsar. In its four movements, the symphony portrays that failed revolution, but the composer also wanted to illustrate the concept of standing up against tyranny and absolutism in general. Two years later, Shostakovich wrote his Cello Concerto No. 1, in which no less a player than Truls Mørk will play the solo part this evening.