Vladimir Jurowski

Shostakovich's Sixth symphony has often been overlooked between the famous heroic testimony of the fifth and the overwhelming wartime statements of the Seventh and EighthHowever, it is a profoundly personal work, juxtaposing deeply felt sorrow in the slow first movement with hollow cheer in the latter two--an ironic response to official demands for lightness, cheerfulness and optimism. The Fournteenth is even less traditional in conception, a haunting...