The National Symphony Orchestra has a tiger by the tail this week: the lengthy, bombastic, draining Fourth Symphony of Shostakovich. Although one of the Russian master's more obscure works, it has ...

Shostakovich's Fourth Symphony was inspired by his the symphonies of Gustav Mahler, and was a completely new and startling creative direction for the composer. But, midway through its composition, his ...

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Who never wrote a bad note? If Mozart springs to mind, you’re in good company. Boston Symphony Orchestra music director Andris Nelsons would agree with you. But next to Wolfgang Amadeus, Nelsons would ...

Serge Prokofieff, famed Russian modernist composer, has a scunner against Boston. Seven years ago, when his Fourth Symphony was premièred there, supercilious Bostonians pooh-poohed it, critics even ...