Composer of the month: Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)

I’m fascinated by all things Russian – its language, literature, music and history. Shostakovich is a composer who represents the very soul of the Russian people and all they go through during the 20^th century: joy, fear, revolution, war, famine, purges – it can all be heard in his works. Shostakovich added some 20^th century modern touches to a Romanticism which came from Tchaikovsky, and a sense of irony from Mahler.

Try the following:

·         Symphony no. 2 – influenced by the events of the Russian Revolution, including many touches he hoped would go down well in a workers’ paradise: factory whistles, the choir chanting Leninist verses 

·         Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk Region – an opera which Stalin found to be too vulgar and depressing. It is but it isn’t!

·         Symphony no. 5 – Shostakovich’s answer to Stalin’s criticism: an uplifting work which begins with war and terror and then moves to grief, followed by joy 

·         Piano Concerto no. 1 – the slow, second movement is incredibly beautiful and tender

Want something to read while you listen? Try:

·         The Life Of An Unknown Man by Andrei Makine

·         One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich by Solzhenitsyn

·         Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky

·         Stalin: Life at the Court of the Red Tsar by Simon Sebag Montefiore