Composed to acknowledge an honorary degree despite not attending university, a mischievous Brahms penned the tongue-in-cheek Academic Festival Overture, featuring boisterous student drinking songs. Reinecke’s Concerto in E minor spotlights the harp in a virtuosic display of shimmering arpeggios and rhythmic optimism. The forced optimism of Symphony No. 5, glorifying Stalin’s regime, proved both career- and lifesaving for Shostakovich.

JoAnn Falletta, conductor
Madeline Olson, harp

BRAHMS  Academic Festival Overture
REINECKE  Harp Concerto in E minor
SHOSTAKOVICH  Symphony No. 5 in D minor

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