‘Belgian National Orchestra, Kochanovsky & Mørk’

Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11, subtitled 'The Year 1905', is a monumental orchestral work depicting the events of the 1905 revolution, composed to mark its 50th anniversary. By turns tragic, mournful, terrifying, and triumphant, it showcases the full expressive and narrative range of Shostakovich.

His Second Cello Concerto, less well-known than the first and rarely programmed, offers a more meditative reflection, less overtly political than the Symphony No. 11. In this later work, a more mature Shostakovich—having endured nearly 40 years of oppression under the Soviet regime—delivers a listening experience that is both rich and intimate, yet at times just as haunting.