Dmitri Shostakovich

Shostakovich's Eighth Quartet connects five movements through recurring material, especially the four-note musical signature associated with his initials. Quotations from his earlier works give the piece a strongly...

Shostakovich completed his First Symphony as a conservatory graduation work while still a teenager. Its orchestration often behaves like chamber music, passing exposed lines among solo instruments; a piano becomes...

Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony places a vast opening movement beside a short, fiercely concentrated scherzo. Later movements prominently use the composer's four-note musical signature, while the third also includes a...

Shostakovich's Eleventh connects four movements depicting the atmosphere and violence surrounding the events of January 1905 in St Petersburg. Revolutionary songs provide recognizable material within the orchestral...

Shostakovich set five poems by Yevgeny Yevtushenko for bass soloist, men's chorus and orchestra. The opening poem commemorates the victims of the Babi Yar massacre and condemns antisemitism. Later movements address...

Shostakovich's Fourteenth sets eleven poems concerning death for soprano, bass, strings and percussion. The texts come from Lorca, Apollinaire, Kuchelbecker and Rilke in Russian translation. Individual songs vary in...

Shostakovich's last symphony returns to an entirely instrumental four-movement design. Recognizable quotations, including material from Rossini's William Tell overture and Wagner, appear alongside the composer's own...

Shostakovich composed To October for the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution. A densely layered orchestral opening leads through contrasting episodes toward a choral conclusion. The brief work does not follow...

Shostakovich's Third Symphony links a continuous orchestral sequence to a choral conclusion celebrating May Day. Changes of pace and character replace a conventional cycle of separate movements. The final vocal...

Shostakovich's Fourth was withdrawn before its planned premiere in 1936, amid the political attack on his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. The enormous three-movement score remained unheard in public until 1961. Its...

Shostakovich composed his Fifth Symphony after official criticism placed his career in danger. Its public success helped restore his standing, but the music's emotional implications remain debated. A large opening...

Shostakovich began the Leningrad Symphony during the German invasion of the Soviet Union and finished it after his evacuation. Its first movement includes an extended episode built over a repeated drum pattern. Three...

Shostakovich wrote his Eighth Symphony during the war, but its five movements resist the simple progression of a victory celebration. A long opening movement is followed by two sharply contrasted fast movements and a...