The recordings of the gifted Shostakovich interpreter Andrey Boreyko have hitherto been considered with great acclaim. This new recording of the Fifth Symphony is destined to become a new benchmark for this popular work, especially since the potential for conflict contained within its pages calls out a thoughtful, well-researched interpretation that artists such as Boreyko can deliver.

The 5th Symphony was completed in July 1937 as a "response of a Soviet artist to justified criticism" – a critique which befell Shostakovich in 1936, when Comrade Stalin took particular displeasure with the opera 'Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District', and reviled by Pravda as “Chaos instead of music”.

Whether Shostakovich's response is to be regarded as an affirmative gesture of proletarian humility, or a sardonic parody of Socialist-Realist 'forced rejoicing' are just two of the exegetical decisions facing each conductor approaching this score. And that's what makes Boreyko’s performances so endlessly fascinating.