Shostakovich: Symphony No. 11 in G Minor, Op. 103 "The Year 1905" SWR Symphonieorchester & Eliahu Inbal

• Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975):
• 1 Shostakovich: Symphony No. 11 in G Minor, Op. 103 "The Year 1905": I. The Palace Square. Adagio 13:32
• 2 Shostakovich: Symphony No. 11 in G Minor, Op. 103 "The Year 1905": II. The Ninth of January. Allegro 18:09
• 3 Shostakovich: Symphony No. 11 in G Minor, Op. 103 "The Year 1905": III. Eternal Memory. Adagio 11:07
• 4 Shostakovich: Symphony No. 11 in G Minor, Op. 103 "The Year 1905": IV. Tocsin. Allegro non troppo 15:26
• Total Runtime 58:14

Info for Shostakovich: Symphony No. 11 in G Minor, Op. 103 "The Year 1905"

This is the first release from the recently formed SWR Symphonieorchester Stuttgart, and there was good reason for it to be a performance of a Shostakovich symphony. This live recording under the experienced baton of Eliahu Inbal shows the extraordinary level at which this orchestra is performing after only five years of existence! Shostakovich’s 11th Symphony focuses on the so-called St Petersburg Bloody Sunday which, according to the Julian calendar, took place on 9 January 1905. Following the format of a classical symphony, the work has four movements; these follow one another without a break, creating a continuous narrative flow. There’s no denying that the 11th Symphony is not a symphony in the classic sense but rather a symphonic poem or programme symphony. Shostakovich always needed an external subject for his compositions to express the central idea of his music. The SWR Symphonieorchester Stuttgart powerfully expresses the underlying ideas of the work with complete conviction.

SWR Symphonieorchester
Eliahu Inbal, conductor

Eliahu Inbal
is currently chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestras. In 1963 he won first prize in the Guido Cantelli Competition, with engagements at La Scala, in Israel and Berlin, with the Vienna Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Concertgebouw and London Orchestras. He is known for his Mahler and Bruckner recordings with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, as well as for his cycles of Ravel with the Orchestre National de France, Dvořák and Stravinsky with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Shostakovich with the Vienna Symphony and Strauss with the Suisse Romande Orchestra. The principal positions he has held include the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Italian RAI, Berlin Symphony and Teatro La Fenice. Honours have included appointment as Officier des Arts et des Lettres in France and the Goldenes Ehrenzeichen, the Austrian Cross of Merit.

Booklet for Shostakovich: Symphony No. 11 in G Minor, Op. 103 "The Year 1905"