| Karina Canellakis | Direction |
| Jonathan Biss | Piano |
| London Philharmonic Orchestra |
Music wrought from blood, fire and steel.
As his nation faced a brutal military invasion, Shostakovich poured his feelings into a symphony on a monumental scale. His Eighth Symphony is music wrought from blood, fire and steel – massive, uncompromising and so honest that after the war, the Soviet authorities banned it. Under the LPO’s inspirational Principal Guest Conductor Karina Canellakis, it has the potential to shake you to the core: a shattering contrast to the sunlit optimism and irrepressible wit of Beethoven at his youthful best, with a soloist – Jonathan Biss – who has described Beethoven’s music as ‘the greatest joy of my life’.