Gergiev conducts Shostakovich

With all its quotations and allusions, from Wagner themes to Rossini references, Shostakovich’s 15th is a surrealist labyrinth. Trying to decipher all the coded messages can quickly throw you off the track. But if you allow yourself to be swept along by the music, with Valery Gergiev as an unrivalled guide, a revelation awaits you: ‘fiery, beautiful, desolate, moving – sometimes all at once,’ in the words of the New York Times.