Boston Symphony Orchestra & Andris Nelsons Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 1, 14 & 15

In this installment in 'an ongoing Shostakovich survey that has rightly won him three Grammy Awards' (New York Times), Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra bookend the composer's brilliant, often turbulent symphonic career. Nearly half a century lies between Shostakovich's triumphant debut with the 'First', premiered before his 20th birthday, and the 'Fifteenth', an inventory of influences written under the shadow of his own mortality. Penned just two years earlier, the 'Fourteenth' is a symphonic song cycle, and the Chamber Symphony is a skillful adaptation of that tragic masterpiece, the Eighth String Quartet.

The newest addition to Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra's award-winning survey of Shostakovich's orchestral works takes on symphonies from the opposite ends of the composer's life. Shostakovich's first symphony, composed when he was only 19, announced his presence to the world, while his 15th seemingly grapples with his impending mortality. The Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 10, was written as a graduation piece for his composition class at the Leningrad Conservatory. The composer's youth and the influences of Stravinsky and Prokofiev are evident in the work, but there are plenty of allusions to his later style. Slightly on the slower side overall, the emotion and forward motion of the music is not lost. The Symphony No. 15 in A major, Op. 141, written a few years before the composer's death, though not programmatic, seems to present a look at the cycle of life.

In this latest installment of their acclaimed Shostakovich cycle, Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra explore the composer’s shifting identity and political convictions under the Soviet regime, tracing with the four symphonies on this album a 35-year span in Shostakovich’s creative and personal evolution: from youthful idealism to mature disillusionment and resignation. The orchestra and its Musical Director are joined by bass-baritone Matthias Goerne who gives an impressive performance of the “Babi Yar” solos in Symphony No. 13. The Tanglewood Festival Chorus (chorus master: James Burton) gives a strong support in the choral parts of Symphonies Nos. 2, 3 and 13, and are joining powers in the mighty Symphony No. 13 with the New England Conservatory Symphonic Choir (chorus master: Erica J. Washburn).