Summary: Shostakovich's Symphony No 11 is filled with Revolutionary songs and the weight of uprising and oppression. In this pre-concert talk the Russian conductor Vasily Petrenko and writer and broadcaster David Nice discuss the work, the 1905 revolution that the symphony describes, the relevance of the Hungarian uprising of 1956 to the music and Shostakovich's life in the post-Stalin era of the late 1950s. Petrenko also shares some of his preparation of the work for performance, and why the viola is the best instrument for mourning.
