concert Yannick Nézét-Seguin conducts Shostakovich's Symphony No. 4 Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra

Ample and somber, Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony beautifully conveys the composer’s acute sense of tragedy and bold perspective—dark, daring, full of originality and defiantly modern flourishes, it caused a scandal even before its 1936 premiere, which Soviet officials coerced Shostakovich into canceling. The symphony would not debut in front of an audience for another 25 years, in 1961, when Shostakovich declared the unchanged manuscript the best work he had ever composed—an assessment supported by the public’s rapturous response.