How did Shostakovich get to fifteen symphonies instead of the nine that composers were supposedly limited to after Beethoven? Possibly by not taking the idea seriously. When he came to write the piece, at the end of the Second World War, instead of a big, serious work with vocal soloists and choir that he had hinted he was going to write, he produced a bright, jaunty neo-classical symphony of modest proportions. Just like Shostakovich to do the opposite of what was expected. This fine performance is part of a series filmed by a French crew in the Salle Pleyel in Paris. Gergiev is conducting with his famous toothpick.
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