Symphonies Nos. 6 & 11, The Year 1905 | Decoding Shostakovich

Andris Nelsons, conductor

ALL-SHOSTAKOVICH program
Symphony No. 6
-Intermission-
Symphony No. 11, The Year 1905
 

The first in our series looking at the music and times of Dmitri Shostakovich and how the composer folded messages of revolution and resistance into his music during a politically turbulent time. Written more than 50 years after the Russian Revolution and during another point of political and historical upheaval, Shostakovich’s Eleventh Symphony is a revisitation of the events of Bloody Sunday, integrating Russian folk and revolutionary songs. The final movement is simultaneously a rallying cry and a warning to future tyrants.