Symphony No 5

Hybrid SACD Compatible with all CD players. Includes high density stereo and surround tracks that can be read by SACD players.

Few works stir up as much debate over their 'meaning' as Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony. And equally few works can boast an interpreter with such insight as Mstislav Rostropovich. His friendship with the composer gives him an almost unique understanding of Shostakovich's inner traumas, and as with the 2002's outstandingly successful LSO Live recording of the Symphony No 11, he inspires the LSO's players to the heights of virtuosity

CD REVIEWS:

***** The Independent

CONCERT REVIEWS:
'is the piece a craven pandering to Stalinist social realism or a bitingly ironic critique of Soviet ideology? For Mstislav Rostropovich, it's neither. As his shattering performance with the LSO proved, he sees the piece as a supremely powerful musical argument in its own right, a work of overwhelming symphonic momentum. … his energy would have put many younger conductors to shame, and his inspiration and insight, as well as the incendiary virtuosity of the LSO players, made this a uniquely convincing performance'
The Guardian, 9 July 2004

'This supposed "Soviet artist's reply to just criticism" has always had the ideological factions of Shostakovich academics arguing over whether the symphony was intended as a genuine contrition for past "misdeeds" or a more subtle, two-edged apologia that is nothing of the sort. Rostropovich is most definitely of the latter view, to judge by the sheer weight he brought to this performance and the riveting playing he inspired from his players … one feels Shostakovich's trauma behind every note of the music.' , 9 July 2004
Daily Telegraph, 9 July 2004

'a Rostropovich performance is impossible to experience in the abstract. The Fifth Symphony breathed out a sense of moral struggle'
The Times, 9 July 2004