4 - Last burst of exuberance from the artistically liberal early revolutionary period. Then came Stalin and the crackdown. Hidden in a draw for decades until Stalin's death.

5 - monumental testament to the endurance of the human spirit under unbearable oppression. 9 - A joke at Stalin's expense.

8 - The second great war symphony. Torment, anguish, violence, death and a tiny voice of hope at the end.

11 - 'A film score in search of a film'. Scenes from the revolution.

13 - Babi Yar - Profoundly moving choral symphony, commemorating victims of Nazi, but also tacitly soviet, atrocities.

15 - Quirky but fiendishly clever and ironic statement on death and old-age. The songs from Jewish folk poetry are also wonderful.

Dmitry's tribute to Bach. One senses that these come from a secret place not scarred by the horrors.

Good performances of these masterpieces.

Get to know the man, in reputedly his own words, some controversy.

Literary masterpiece giving fictional accounts of true lives of people placed in extraordinary moral dilemmas in WWII. Includes highly credible depictions of scene's from Shostakovich's life.