Shostakovich: Symphony No. 9 & Violin Concerto No. 1 (SACD, Mariinsky )

The Mariinsky’s Shostakovich cycle has been an internationally acclaimed project, conducted by the foremost interpreter of our time. Symphony No 9 is a deeply powerful composition in which Shostakovich unmasked the truth behind the ideology and pomp of officialdom. The powers of the day saw this symphony as a calculated provocation and made the composer’s life almost unbearable: Shostakovich would not premiere another symphony until the death of his oppressor, Stalin, in 1953.