Maestro Pollack takes the symphony back to Russia, this time with the help of master cellist Burke Schuchman, performing the First Cello Concerto by Dmitri Shostakovich. Originally written for Mstislav Rostropovich, the concerto was premiered in 1959, and first recorded by Rostropocivh with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

The concert will open with Rimsky-Korsakov's Overture on Russian Themes, a delightful "box of chocolates" based on three folk songs: "Glory", "At the Gates" and "Ivanushka's Caftan".

The pinnacle of the evening will be Prokofiev's glorious 5th Symphony, written during (and influenced by) World War II.

The first movement embodies an elaborate and climactic development of two themes - one calm and sustained, the other soaring. The movement is wrapped up with an electrifying coda, punctuated by a roaring tam-tam and low piano tremolos.

The second movement is an insistent scherzo in Prokofiev's typical toccata mode, framing a central country dance. The third movement is a dreamy slow movement, full of nostalgia, which nevertheless builds up to a tortured climax, before receding back to dreaminess.

The finale starts with a cello choir playing a slow introduction which then launches into the movement proper, a rondo. The playful ("giocoso") main theme is contrasted with two calmer episodes, one played by the flute, the other a chorale on strings. At the end, just as the movement is striving to end in a victorious tone, the music unexpectedly degenerates into a manic frenzy which is then interrupted by a string quartet playing staccato "wrong notes" with rude interjections from low trumpets, making the ultimate B-flat major chord sound all the more ironic.