Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla
Janine Jansen Dmitri Shostakovich
Claude Debussy
Benjamin Britten

In this programme, we encounter two composers who use the sea as an image of something greater. For Debussy, it is an impressionistic depiction of nature that breaks with the conventions of his time, while for Britten it serves as a dark and turbulent backdrop for human tragedy. Shostakovich may not depict the sea in his Violin Concerto No. 1, but he nonetheless had to navigate politically treacherous waters. All three works are marked by intense emotional tension, sudden shifts, and an underlying unease that never fully releases its grip.

Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1

Dmitri Shostakovich's (1906–1975) Violin Concerto No. 1 is a deeply personal work, melancholic, philosophical, and at times tragic. It is the first major work in which Shostakovich incorporates his personal signature into the music: a four-note motif derived from his initials (D–S(E♭)–C–H).

The violin concerto was completed in 1948 and dedicated to his close colleague, the renowned violinist David Oistrakh. The concerto was not performed until 1955, most likely because it did not conform to the demands of the Stalinist regime.

Debussy: La Mer

Claude Debussy (1862–1918) had a strong desire to forge new directions for art and became one of the leading figures of Impressionism. La Mer depicts the sea, and the very act of writing music that described something concrete was a novelty in Debussy's time.

La Mer is a work of remarkable colours and atmospheres. The cover of the score features a Japanese painting, and it is likely that Debussy sought to evoke this image through the music.

Britten: Four Sea Interludes

In Benjamin Britten’s (1913-1976) opera Peter Grimes, we meet a fisherman ostracised by the community of the small coastal town where he lives, accused of having killed a child. Although the court has acquitted him, the townspeople continue to shun him, gradually wearing Peter Grimes down.

Four Sea Interludes are musical reflections of this tragic narrative, portraying the inner lives of the opera's characters. At the same time, they depict the coastal landscape surrounding the town, full of stark contrasts and sudden changes. Even the most idyllic passages in the music carry an unsettling undertone.