Commissioned by the Propaganda Department of the Soviet State Music Publishing House to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution, the ‘Symphonic Dedication to October’ eventually became Shostakovich’s Second Symphony, and was first performed, in Leningrad, in 1927. It is a short, through-composed work of around twenty minutes, its structure involving four sections. It opens with a Largo meant to portray the primordial chaos from which order emerged, and ends with a choral setting of ‘To October’, a poem by Alexander Bezymensky, praising Lenin and the October Revolution. The symphony shows a marked departure in style from Shostakovich’s first symphony, and is far more modernist and avant-garde. The Second Symphony made little impression, in Russia or the west, and is rarely performed. In contrast, the Fifth Symphony received a standing ovation at its première, one that lasted for over half an hour, and was acclaimed both by state officials (for delivering everything that they had asked of Shostakovich) and by the public (who heard it as an expression of the suffering to which it had been subjected by Stalin). The Fifth Symphony is one of Shostakovich’s best-known and most performed works, and has become standard repertoire for orchestras around the globe.

‘This latest volume maintains the high standards established throughout Storgårds’s cycle, offering illuminating insights into the formative period of one of the twentieth century’s most significant symphonists.’ – Yorkshire Times (Symphonies 1 & 3: CHAN20398)

‘A feast for both the ears and the mind’ – Gramophone (Symphonies 1 & 3: CHAN20398)

‘The BBC Philharmonic delivers superb and vividly characterised playing throughout. Solo passages are imaginatively projected. German bass-baritone Albert Dohmen has a beautifully lyrical voice... The Estonian National Male Choir are ideal, their dark timbres and exemplary diction really hitting the target both in the Shostakovich and in Arvo Pärt’s profoundly moving De profundis’ – BBC Music (Symphony no.13: CHSA5335)