IDAGIO | Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8 - Alexander Scriabin: Le Poème de l'extase 3149028138337

Featuring

Evgeny Mravinsky
Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra
Dmitri Shostakovich
Alexander Scriabin

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Historical Context

The Soviet government attempted to rebrand Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8 as the 'Stalingrad Symphony' to portray it as a memorial to those killed in the Battle of Stalingrad.

Composition History

Alexander Scriabin's Le Poème de l'Extase, though sometimes referred to as his 'fourth symphony,' was written as a single symphonic movement between 1905 and 1908.

Composer Biography

Shostakovich dedicated his Eighth Symphony to Yevgeny Mravinsky, the conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Scriabin believed music was the most highly evolved art and ecstasy the most highly evolved emotion, and Le Poème de l'Extase attempts to combine these two aesthetic principles.

Critical Reception

Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8 was not well received by the Soviet government due to its bleak tone and lack of an optimistic conclusion, making it unsuitable for propaganda.

Composition History

Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8 was written in the summer of 1943, during World War II, and first performed on November 4 of that year.

Performer Biography

Yevgeny Mravinsky, the conductor on this album, became the permanent conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra in 1938 and remained its musical director until his retirement in 1982.