Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony explore the life and music of Dmitri Shostakovich in this film that is part of the monumental DVD series, Keeping Score. This series, originally shown on PBS, features beautiful documentaries on the lives and music of composers, shot on location, with Thomas's insightful biographical and musical commentary, and full concert performances. The best and most ambitious film series since Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts, the Keeping Score project was designed to bring classical music to people of all ages and musical backgrounds, and includes an interactive website with classroom resources, and an education program for teachers to help them incorporate music in all K-12 subjects.
Shostakovich/5th Symphony
Shostakovich may have secreted a subversive cipher beneath the surface of his life-saving Symphony No. 5. This is all the more shocking since another bad review from Stalin's totalitarian forces could have meant a sentence to the Gulag or worse.
After his opera Lady Macbeth was publically condemned as immoral by Pravda, the Soviet newspaper, Shostakovich knew he had only one chance to redeem himself. When he penned this fifth symphony, the composer was literally writing for his life. The risk was so high that Shostakovich slept on the stairs outside his apartment so the secret police would not wake his family when they came for him, as he was sure they would.
This documentary investigates the arresting symphony that would either redeem Shostakovich or doom him. Did he dare hide a kernel of musical criticism in what appears to be a paean to the Motherland? Join Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony as they explore the hidden language of this masterwork. What Shostakovich has to say might depend on what you're brave enough to hear.
Enjoy this stirring documentary on Shostakovich, then listen to the San Francisco Symphony perform his complete Symphony No. 5. The concert was filmed in high-definition 16:9 widescreen and 5.1 surround sound at London's Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms concert series.
DVD includes subtitles in English, Spanish, German, French, and Chinese. 109 min.
