Prom 52

T1261096646
Part of the BBC Proms.

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Archive :: production:T1261096646, concert:S5983, venue:V221

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London Symphony Orchestra

Valery Gergiev returns at the helm of the LSO to conduct the most devastatingly bleak of Shostakovich's three 'war symphonies'. Composed at the time of the Battle of Stalingrad, the Eighth is paired with the belated UK premiere of Schnittke's early, Orff-influenced oratorio, an agonised expression of solidarity with the victims of the second atomic bomb, dropped on the city of Nagasaki the day before Japan's surrender. Heavily criticised by the Soviet Composers' Union, it only received its 1959 broadcast premiere (on Moscow World Service Radio) after Shostakovich's recommendation, and was not publicly performed until 2006. Approx finish time: 21:45. Broadcast Live on BBC Radio 3.