It’s 11 years since Aurora Orchestra first performed a symphony from memory at the BBC Proms. The irrepressibly energetic ensemble has been transfixing audiences with collective tightrope walks ever since. This year – 50 years since the composer’s death – Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony came in for the look-mum-no-music treatment.
To be clear, the memorisation element is a red herring, not in itself guaranteeing a satisfying performance. That depends on interpretation and rehearsal technique. What memorising a piece on the scale of Shostakovich’s monumental Fifth does mean, however, is that every musician knows the work inside out, in all its 3D complexity – and every musician (whether a rank-and-file violin or a woodwind principal) is equally exposed.
