Hidden beneath the surface of his life-saving Symphony No. 5, Shostakovich may have left a subversive cipher. Publicly called to task by the brutal forces of Stalin, the Soviet Union’s golden boy composer was literally writing for his life. This episode of Keeping Score investigates the arresting symphony that would either redeem Shostakovich or condemn him to the Gulag. Did he dare hide a kernel of musical criticism in his paean to the Motherland? Join Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony as they explore the enigma of this masterwork. What Shostakovich has to say might depend on what you’re brave enough to hear.
