Symphony No. 13 (Shostakovich)
The Symphony No. 13 in B flat minor (Op. 113, subtitled Babi Yar) by Dmitri Shostakovich was first performed in Moscow on 18 December 1962 by the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra and the basses of the Republican State and Gnessin Institute Choirs, under Kirill Kondrashin (after Yevgeny Mravinsky refused to conduct the work). The soloist was Vitali Gromadsky. This work has been variously called a song cycle and a choral symphony since the composer included settings of poems by Yevgeny Yevtushenko that concerned the World War II Babi Yar massacre and other topics. The five poems Shostakovich set to music (one poem per movement) are earthily vernacular and cover every aspect of Soviet life:
Shostakovich takes his critique of the Soviet regime in this work to the farthest that he would publicly in his lifetime. Even so he does not engage in outright dissent; he broaches subjects open to discussion more or less freely while not actually questioning the basis of the regime itself. The criticism in which Shostakovich engages here was actually the bounds tolerated at the end of Nikita Khrushchev's premiership.
Read more about Symphony No. 13 (Shostakovich): Movements, Instrumentation, Recordings, Bibliography
Famous quotes containing the word symphony:
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