Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7

It was during the siege of Leningrad (now St Petersburg) by the Nazis that Shostakovich composed the bulk of his Symphony No. 7, a monumental, poignant requiem for a ravaged city and for the victims of totalitarian regimes everywhere. For conductor Semyon Bychkov, who was born and educated in that city, the ‘Leningrad’ Symphony has great historical and personal significance.

Almost a year after Leningrad was taken, the symphony was performed in the besieged city by local musicians, most of whom had been temporarily released from service on the front. Thanks to loudspeakers placed along the trenches, even the Nazis themselves would have heard the concert. The symphony had profound symbolic significance for the Russians and garnered great international acclaim. But later, there was criticism: Soviet officials found the work lacking in heroism, while Shostakovich was seen in the West as Stalin’s puppet. Today, the symphony is considered not so much a literal commentary on the siege of Leningrad as a fierce indictment of oppression and violence, and a most compelling requiem for their victims everywhere.

As a very young conductor, Semyon Bychkov faced opposition because his political ideas did not conform to the official Soviet line. ‘I wanted to be free to make my own decisions,’ he says. ‘And I wanted to be free not to lie.’ Bychkov emigrated to the United States in 1974. Ten years later, he conducted the Concertgebouw Orchestra for the very first time – the beginning of a long and fruitful collaboration.