Philharmonia Orchestra

Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13 takes the composer’s critique of the Soviet regime as far as he ever publicly went in his lifetime. Setting poems by Yevgeny Yevtushenko, the first movement describes the mass murder of the Jews by the Nazis in Babi Yar, near Kiev, during the Second World War, in a series of theatrical episodes include a depiction of the story of Anne Frank. The movement ends with the breaking down of the door to the Franks’ hiding place, in a haunting and menacing illustration. The remainder of the symphony mocks the Soviet government and aspects of Soviet life. Written for enormous forces, including chorus and soloist, it is an epic piece full of powerful criticism.