Together with Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Prokofiev, Dimitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) unquestionably represents the pinnacle of 20th-century Russian music. Contrary to his famous compatriots who sought employment in the West, Shostakovich was educated entirely under the Soviet system. Even at times

“Minors of the Majors” invites you to discover compositions by the great classical composers that for one reason or another have not reached the musical mainstream. Please enjoy, and keep listening!

With the German Sixteenth Army strategically entrenched just thirty miles southeast of Leningrad, the city also known as St. Petersburg got ready for the most prolonged siege of World War II. Among the citizens of Leningrad was a thirty-four-year-old composer

Eine kleine Symphonie (Quartet No. 1), Op. 49a: III. Allegro molto From Chamber Symphonies – Dmitri Shostakovitch (2015) Released by Harmonia Mundi Shostakovitch: Eine kleine Symphonie (Quartet No. 1), Op. 49a: III. Allegro moltoA decade after its debut performance of

Joseph Stalin was not a particularly nice man! Once he had consolidated near-absolute power in the 1930’s, he ruthlessly eliminated any opposition. That meant banishing “counter-revolutionary infiltrators” to the Gulag labour camps, deported nonconformists to the furthest regions of the

A recent concert by the distinguished Emerson String Quartet (Eugene Drucker, violin; Philip Setzer, violin; Lawrence Dutton, viola; Paul Watkins, cello) at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. paired Dmitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 15 in E-flat minor, Op. 144

Shostakovich: Preludes op.34 – V. Allegro vivace From Dimitri Shostakovich – Sonata No. 2 and 24 Preludes Released by Outhere Music Shostakovich: Preludes op.34 – V. Allegro vivaceRecorded in Flagey’s unsurpassable Studio N4 in Brussels, here’s the first CD of

In 1935, Benjamin Britten spoke rather despairingly of the musical scene in the 20th century. “The real musicians are so few & far between, aren’t they? Apart from Berg, Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Bridge one is a bit stumped for names,