“Egmont”, the most famous overture among his 11 overtures, is based on Goethe’s Tragedy “Egmont.” The Count of Egmont in Flanders was hanged for his opposition movement against the tyranny of the Spanish King. This work is based on his unfortunate life and expresses his opposition, conflict, and a sentiment of fear that leads to his death.

The work is a sonata-form overture. It commences with a very strong beginning that includes brass instruments. It is soon followed by gentle passages of cello and contrabasses.  The rather taciturn melodies of these lower sounding instruments displays a color of the entire work and seem to suggest the fate of the Count of Egmont, who would face unfortunate death.  But shortly thereafter, it reveals the spirit of the Count of Egmont with the addition of woodwind, brass, and timpani all together.  The two subject themes of the work encounters repeated changes with the alternation of instruments in strings and woodwinds. This pattern of timbre changes in a single tune can only be heard in orchestral pieces.

Egmont speaks for desire, conflict, failure, death, and love, which he tried to achieve by means of even risking his life. Beethoven expresses Egmont as a crystal of pure love in Goethe’s letters. The overture displays Beethoven’s suffering through the use of sad, tragic, and grandiose melodies.  

“Largo” for cello and orchestra was written in 2003.  It was commissioned by the renowned cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. Even though its title is “Largo”, the tempos for the three movements are adagio, andante, adagio. They proceed without any pause between each. 
The magnificent and rhapsodic first movement begins with the performance by the soloist.  The tension gradually increases when other low string instruments are added to the cello melody. With the entrance of a clear percussion sound, the atmosphere intensifies and it is maintained throughout the movement before proceeding to the second movement, the movement that reminds us of the last part of the fifth symphony by Shostakovich. 

In the second movement, andante, the wind ensemble joins lively performance of the tutti orchestra. This overpowers the passionately performing soloist. The soloist is incited by this situation and performs more powerful climaxes. At the height of the climax, the frequency of the solo performance gradually dwindles by the winds and celesta. The harmonic rendition of high-pitched wind players and percussions soon follows. As the performance of strings gradually sinks down, the movement proceeds to the relatively shorter last movement.   

In the adagio last movement, which employs chaotic motives, a march and controlled music re-enter. It has reappearances and summaries of themes from preceding movements.  After the frequency of the solo performance dwindles by the bells and heavy sounds by timpani, the music ends calmly.  
“Largo” was premiered in Wiener Musikverein in 2005, with Mstislav Rostropovich and the Vienna Philharmonic under the direction of Seiji Ozawa.  

Composers often express his or her limitless abilities in operas. It is no exaggeration to say that opera is the highest peak of music, whether it is about music, contents, or expressions.  Thus it has been dreams and challenges for many dancers for years to express operas into dances. 

Shchedrin transcribed Bizet’s operas into dance music. He intended to transcribe them as a complete recreation of the originals instead of merely emulating certain elements. He arranged strings and percussions as central part of the instruments. He arranged strings for Bizet’s melodies and dances, and percussions for rhythm parts. The “Carmen Suite” is in 13 movements, with 5 string sections and a gigantic percussion section. It is a result of magnificent efforts beyond imagination.