Noord Nederlands Orkest en Nikola Meeuwsen — Rachmaninoff & Sjostakovitsj

About this event

The young pianist Nikola Meeuwsen is a sensation. In 2025, he became the first Dutchman to win the Queen Elisabeth Competition, promptly becoming an international star. Combine his charisma with Rachmaninoff’s melodic Second Piano Concerto , and you know it: this will be unforgettable. And then Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony is yet to come, a monumental piece with a hidden depth: it sounds vital and energetic, yet has a venomous undertone. Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto is an indestructible crowd-pleaser. From the very first menacing notes, you surrender and are swept along in a dramatic ‘story’ that leaves no one unmoved. That it sounds so heartfelt is logical: with this piece, the composer overcame a deep depression. You can therefore hear how his primal Russian melancholy gradually gives way to ecstatic joy. Also Russian, but more modern, is Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony . At first listen, it seems like typical Soviet music with grand gestures and energetic marches. But the piece is full of hidden pain and resistance and is a masterful indictment of the dictatorship. Program S. Rachmaninoff Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18 D. Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47

Source: Original listing ↗