Shostakovich's Fifth

Gergely Madaras features Shostakovich's most performed symphony, the Fifth Symphony (1937). In the crosshairs of a regime that deemed his creations elitist and bourgeois, the composer redeems himself here with an accessible work of great emotional power, emblematic of what the Soviet government expected for its propaganda. At the same time, he infuses his score with an undercurrent of dissent, a burlesque spirit reminiscent of his film music from...