Shostakovich may have secreted a subversive cipher beneath the surface of his life-saving Symphony No. 5. This is all the more shocking since another bad review from ...

Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 1, 5 and 7 (“Leningrad”); Prelude in E-flat minor Philadelphia Orchestra, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski, conductor (Pearl, 2-CD set). It was Leopold Stokowski ...

The importance of Dmitry Shostakovich as an influence in the history of classical music is hard to understate. Marking the 100th anniversary of the composer's birth, Performance Today begins a week of ...

I’ve had dozens of conversations that discussed the greatest symphonies of all time. I’ve read dozens of articles on the same topic. The usual suspects are all there, Beethoven’s Ninth, Mahler’s Ninth ...

One of my favorite pastimes is reading composer biographies. For me, context is critical in understanding music and being able to get the most out of every musical journey. Insight into the political, ...