Concert Review: On With the Revolution

The Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra plays Shostakovich.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Russian propaganda poster commemorating the rebellion on the battleship Potemkin
and the uprisings of the year 1905.

Like the people of Russia, the Eleventh and Twelfth Symphonies of Dmitri Shostakovich have suffered since their premieres. Composed at the peak of the composer's considerable powers, these pieces as grand public gestures, written to commemorate the start of the Russian Revolution (in the Eleventh) and its triumphant conclusion in the Twelfth. Each symphony is a programmatic work in four movements, requiring enormous orchestral forces and considerable lung power from the woodwinds and brass.