Truth in Our Time

At first glance, the three central works on this album—Korngold’s voluptuous and seductive Violin Concerto (charismatically performed by soloist James Ehnes), Shostakovich’s acerbic and brittle Symphony No. 9 and Philip Glass’ Symphony No. 13 composed in 2021—might seem odd companions in every conceivable way. Each, however, offers a strikingly different take on the theme of “Truth in Our Time”, the title of this enthralling programme. The fact these remarkably immaculate performances were recorded live in concert adds to the album’s sense of immediate and urgent communication. “You’re always on tenterhooks with a completely live performance,” explains conductor Alexander Shelley, “especially with such a variety of music.” Opening the album is Canadian composer Nicole Lizée’s 2017 work, Zeiss After Dark. Shelley describes the shimmering piece to Apple Music Classical as “an amuse-bouche”—it was inspired by a candlelit scene in the 1975 film Barry Lyndon that had to be filmed with a particular lens, leading to questions of perspective and filters. This is followed immediately by Yao, an important Quebecois artist, reciting his own poem Strange Absurdity. Next is a lithe and characterful performance of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9, the composer’s riposte to the Stalinist triumphalism expected of him after the Second World War. Shelley regards the outer movements as “edgy and bitey”, while its central slow movement gives vent to the sorrow Shostakovich and his fellow citizens felt in the wake of a terrible conflict. “But,” says Shelley, “if you actually take his metronome marking, it’s very quick. Yes, it’s sad, it’s melancholic, but you’re not allowed to take the time to be truly sorrowful.” The Korngold Violin Concerto, written right at the end of the Second World War, “has a sense of oxygen rushing into the proverbial room”—the composer vowed not to write for the concert hall until the Nazi regime fell. And the Glass? Although it’s the one work specifically written to fit the programme, Shelley hesitates to try to explain its “meaning”. Shelley, however, told Glass “the intent of the project and the context” and then felt it was up to the composer to decide what was “the appropriate way to respond”. The rest is up to us.