Shostakovich: Symphony No 4 (recorded in 2008)

"Neurotic interpretations of Shostakovich aren't Haitink's style. Even when conducting the agonised and extraordinary Fourth Symphony with his Chicago Symphony Orchestra live in concert, he stays measured, a touch cool. But he's lethal, too...The final movement packs a most menacing punch, helped by the shrill acoustic, scouring the music like a searchlight. A companion disc offers a useful DVD film setting this score in context."
(Times Online)

A champion of Shostakovich's music, CSO Principal
Conductor Bernard Haitink leads the Fourth Symphony, a dark and emotionally, groundbreaking work. It's often the case that great art emerges through great suffering. In Shostakovich's Soviet Union, darkened by the shadow of Stalin, music was essential-it expressed the ideas and feelings of a people that otherwise had no voice. Yet the Fourth Symphony lay dormant, unperformed, for 25 years after its completion. This stunning symphony is now recognized as one of the composer's boldest and most brilliant scores.

BONUS DVD!
Accompanying the audio CD is a DVD of one of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's critically acclaimed Beyond the Score® performance featuring a multimedia Shostakovich documentary led by Creative DirectorGerard McBurney. The program features newsreels and testimonies, including the words of Shostakovich and his friends. Beyond the Score® brings to life not only the music, but also the social and political world from which it emerged.

A musical force in Chicago and around the world, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is consistently hailed as one of the fi nest international orchestras. Its expansive catalog of more than 900 recordings has earned 58 Grammy® Awards-more than any other orchestra in the world. In 2007, the CSO launched its in-house record label, CSO Resound. Featuring live concert performances by the CSO with world-class conductors and guest artists, CSO Resound showcases the power and versatility of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra today.

PRAISE FOR BEYOND THE SCORE®
"It was as if Shostakovich's music was itself creating the grim, forced and sometimes horrific images we were seeing on the overhead screen. The sounds of his Fourth Symphony merged seamlessly with the narration, fi lm clips and slides of still photos. McBurney is that rara avis, a musicologist who wears his learning lightly, who illuminates as adroitly as he entertains."
-Chicago Tribune