Symphony No. 11 – Author's Arrangement for Piano/4 H, Op. 103

Symphony No.11 in G minor, op.103 arranged for piano, composed in 1957, bears the subtitle 'The Year 1905,' alluding to the failed, bloodily suppressed revolution in the Russian Tsarist Empire. In private, however, Shostakovich reportedly said that his symphony was also reminiscent of the present, perhaps referring to the brutal repression of the Hungarian uprising in 1956. The symphony's extremely pictorial musical idiom 'tells' of injustice and violence against the defenceless. In this score, no fewer than nine popular revolutionary songs from 1905 are to be heard.