Asheville Symphony Masterworks 4: London

This program honors the British talent for holding gravity and levity in the same hand. Britten opens with melodies from his childhood, reimagined years later. Shostakovich’s cello concerto follows with biting intensity — lyrical, ruthless, and unapologetically demanding. Pärt offers an austere meditation on loss, inspired by the “unusual purity” of Britten’s music. Haydn closes with his final symphony, composed in London, ending not in sentiment, but in triumphant joy. Four composers, four sharply different voices, united by the British knack for making contradictions feel perfectly sensible.

Britten: Simple Symphony
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1
Pärt: Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten
Haydn: Symphony No. 104, “London”