Symfonische muziek

Shostakovich at one point thought his Fourth Symphony was the best thing he’d ever written. Extravagant and challenging in equal measure, it’s a work of epic proportions, requiring over 100 musicians including large percussion and brass sections. Owing to Soviet censure, the work went unperformed for almost 30 years after it was completed, until in 1961 it was revealed as one of the significant milestones of the composer’s output, the work that solidified him as a master symphonist. © LSO Live

Composed against a cataclysmic backdrop of Stalinist oppression and the Second World War, Shostakovich's Eighth Symphony is a deeply affecting poem of suffering. The composer described it as 'an attempt to reflect the terrible tragedy of war', and it contains some of the most terrifying music he ever wrote. Here, Gianandrea Noseda conducts the London Symphony Orchestra with intensity and understanding, allowing the music to tell its own story as it travels from darkness into light, yearning more for peace than for victory. One of the leading conductors of his generation, Gianandrea Noseda holds several high-profile international positions in addition to his role as Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, including Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington DC. His previous releases on LSO Live include acclaimed interpretations of the Verdi Requiem and Britten War Requiem, and this recording follows the digital release of Shostakovich: Symphony No 5, which will receive a full release in October 2019 coupled with the composer's First Symphony. © harmonia mundi