Symphony No. 10 in E minor, Op. 93

About the work

Premiered in December 1953, months after Stalin's death. The vast first movement — half the symphony's length — circles upward from the depths of the low strings; the second is a four-minute presto of concentrated violence, widely read as a portrait of Stalin; the third sets Shostakovich's DSCH monogram against a mysterious horn call spelling 'Elmira'; and in the finale DSCH is finally hammered out in triumph on the timpani. His most performed symphony after the Fifth, and the most concentrated of his individual-against-the-age narratives.

Upcoming performances