Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7 "Leningrad"

Shostakovich’s world-famous Symphony No. 7 was composed from its very first day in the war year of 1941. It received the nickname “Leningrad” because Shostakovich dedicated it to his hometown of Leningrad (now again Saint Petersburg). The composer created the greater part of the music in Leningrad while it was besieged by German troops. The symphony was finally completed in Kuibyshev (Samara) on the Volga, after Shostakovich and his family had been evacuated there from Leningrad. It was also premiered there on March 5, 1942. The Moscow premiere on March 27 took place under life-threatening circumstances, yet even an air-raid siren could not persuade the audience, captivated by the gripping music, to seek shelter. To this day, little has changed regarding the fascination with this music: his Seventh Symphony is considered Shostakovich’s most famous work. Mariss Jansons, regarded as an expert in the Slavic repertoire as well as in 19th- and 20th-century symphonic music, has repeatedly engaged with this masterpiece. Under his baton, the musicians of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra interpret Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony as a harrowing contemporary witness, while also making it an expression of our own era. The live recording of those concerts is now being released by BR KLASSIK: an exemplary interpretation of one of the most important symphonic works of the 20th century.