Shostakovich: Symphonies; Concertos; Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District

Featuring

Andris Nelsons
Matthias Goerne
Alexander Tsymbalyuk
Kristine Opolais
William R. Hudgins
Thomas Rolfs

Yuja Wang
Baiba Skride
Yo-Yo Ma
Alexander Kravets
Alexandra LoBianco
Anatoli Sivko
Brandon Cedel
Brenden Patrick Gunnell
Charles Blandy
David Kravitz
Dmitry Belosselskiy
Günther Groissböck
Joo Won Kang
Maria Barakova
Matthew DiBattista
Michelle Trainor
Neal Ferreira
Patrick Guetti
Peter Hoare
Yeghishe Manucharyan
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Tanglewood Festival Chorus
New England Conservatory Chorus
Dmitri Shostakovich

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Critical Reception

Shostakovich's opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District was initially popular, with 83 performances in Leningrad and 97 in Moscow by the end of 1935, before its denunciation.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Shostakovich's definition of a symphony was broad and innovative, as shown in his Thirteenth and Fourteenth Symphonies, which varied in number of movements, length, and sequence.

Composer Biography

Dmitri Shostakovich, born in Tsarist St. Petersburg, witnessed major historical events including the birth of the USSR, Stalin's reign, the Nazi invasion, and the Cold War.

Composition History

Shostakovich's opera, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, was denounced on the front page of Pravda in 1936, causing his career to crash.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Shostakovich's cycle of fifteen symphonies not only expanded the boundaries of the genre but also chronicled life in Soviet Russia.

Composition History

Each of Shostakovich's six concertos was composed with a specific performer in mind, such as himself, his son Maxim, David Oistrakh, and Mstislav Rostropovich.

Compositional Technique

The Chamber Symphony in C minor, op. 110a, is an arrangement by Rudolf Barshai of Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8, obsessively repeating the composer's musical 'signature' D-S-C-H.