Shostakovich: Chamber Symphony

The Scottish Ensemble’s 2000 album of Shostakovich’s deeply personal Chamber Symphony, a transcription by Rudolf Barshai of the composer’s monument to ‘the victims of fascism and war’, sees re-issue as part of Linn’s ECHO series. Elegiac outer movements contrast with the work’s jagged dynamic rhythms in the central sections. In contrast, the Piano Concerto is one of the most exuberant examples of Shostakovich’s wonderfully subversive sense of humor. The program concludes with the rarely heard Two Pieces for string octet that includes the feverishly brilliant Scherzo.