Symphonic Hour

Shostakovich composed his Fifth Symphony amidst the turbulent years of the Great Purge, a campaign of mass persecutions carried out between 1936 and 1938 in the Soviet Union. Through a critique in the official press titled "Chaos instead of Music," the authorities had just condemned his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Blacklisted, the composer saw the premiere of his Fourth Symphony canceled at the very last moment. Shostakovich conceived his Fifth Symphony as "the creative response of a Soviet artist to justified criticism". Hence the relatively usual orchestral complement and a more accessible style, with more tonal music. Authorities saw in this symphony, with its ecstatic and grand finale, the story of a Soviet hero whose personality was forged through various crises, ultimately triumphing and looking to the future with optimism. However, others heard in this four-movement symphony a hidden criticism of the regime. Nevertheless, this Fifth Symphony was a true public triumph, and Shostakovich was completely rehabilitated. Even today, this symphony, characterized by a beautiful balance of reflection, humor and grandeur, is one of the composer's most beloved works.