Shostakovich: Execution of Stepan Razin (The) / October / 5 Fragments, Op. 42

Dmitry Shostakovich must be reckoned among the leading composers of the twentieth century. Heralded by Soviet authorities following the Bolshevik revolution, his fortunes rose and fell in response to the thoughts and actions of Joseph Stalin. During the 1920s he had been hailed as the most promising of the new generation of Russian - that is "Soviet" - composers, one who had, in fact, captured the enthusiastic attention of Stalin himself. The Soviet dictator especially liked the series of politically correct film scores Shostakovich was composing in the populist style known throughout the arts as Soviet Realism.