Shostakovich's early works, like the Second and Third Symphonies, loudly proclaimed his faith in the new Soviet society, aligning with his 1931 statement that 'there can be no music without an ideology.'
Composition History
The Thirteenth Symphony, 'Babi Yar,' commemorates a mass murder during the Nazi occupation of Soviet Ukraine, where over 100,000 people, mostly Jews, were shot.
Critical Reception
The premiere of the Thirteenth Symphony in 1962 was controversial due to its implicitly anti-Soviet content, with Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev demanding changes to Yevtushenko's verses.
Composition History
The Thirteenth Symphony was inspired by Yevgeny Yevtushenko's poem 'Babi Yar,' a powerful denunciation of anti-Semitism, and uses four other of his poems to criticize failings of the totalitarian Soviet system.
Composer Biography
Dmitri Shostakovich's symphonic cycle, which he began as a teenager and completed four years before his death, serves as both an autobiography and a chronicle of Soviet life.
Recording & Production
This album features live recordings of Shostakovich's Symphonies Nos. 2, 3, 12, and 13, captured at Symphony Hall, Boston, between November 2019 and May 2023.
You might also enjoy...
Shostakovich Under Stalin's Shadow - Symphonies Nos. 5, 8 & 9; Suite From "Hamlet"
