Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10

Featuring

Evgeny Svetlanov
USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Dmitri Shostakovich
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

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Notable Performances

During the 1968 Proms concert, the audience reacted to the invasion of Czechoslovakia with shouts of 'go home' and protests, even as Mstislav Rostropovich performed Dvořák's Cello Concerto.

Composition History

Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony, featured on this album, was composed in 1953, the year both Stalin and Prokofiev died.

Compositional Technique

The short second-movement scherzo of Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony, described as fierce and blunt, may be an unflattering musical portrait of Stalin.

Interpretation

Conductor Svetlanov silenced the commotion at the 1968 Proms concert with a very fiery account of Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila Overture.

Performer Biography

Evgeny Fyodorovich Svetlanov, a conductor on this album, was also a composer and a fine pianist who studied with Heinrich Neuhaus, mentor to Sviatoslav Richter.

Historical Context

The first of the USSR State Symphony Orchestra's BBC Proms concerts in 1968 coincided with the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, which aimed to halt the Prague Spring reforms.

Performer Biography

Svetlanov's conducting mentor, Alexander Gauk, founded the USSR State Symphony Orchestra, which Svetlanov later led as Principal Conductor for 35 years.