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Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5

11/17/2014, 5 Tracks, 56:49

Featuring

  • Benjamin Zander
  • Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra
  • Miscellaneous
  • Dmitri Shostakovich

Did you know?

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Cultural Impact

The Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (BPYO) aims to shape future leaders through music, incorporating weekly leadership assignments and fostering dialogue with conductor Benjamin Zander.

Source: Booklet

Compositional Technique

Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony features an unusual eight-part string texture in its slow movement, achieved by dividing all violins into three parts and violas and cellos into two each.

Source: Booklet

Composition History

Shostakovich composed his Fifth Symphony under immense pressure and threats after his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District was savagely attacked in the official Communist Party newspaper, Pravda.

Source: Booklet

Recording & Production

This album was recorded live at Carnegie Hall in New York City on December 9, 2013, featuring the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.

Source: Booklet

Composer's Artistic Vision

Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony was famously, and anonymously, described as 'A Soviet artist's practical creative reply to just criticism' after its triumphant premiere.

Source: Booklet

Interpretation

Conductor Benjamin Zander believes that the triumphant finale of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony, when played at the composer's indicated slow tempo, reveals a 'scream of pain' rather than a celebration of the Soviet State.

Source: Booklet

Performer Biography

Benjamin Zander, the conductor, studied under Benjamin Britten and Imogen Holst at a young age and later with the Spanish cellist Gaspar Cassado.

Source: Booklet

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