He has a number of fine works, but Symphony’s 4& 10 lose me. I really like the piano concertoS anD Syms 1 and 9
Always a pleasure hearing from fellow classical music buffs.
Basically, my interests are Austro-German mainstream, starting with Bach and ending with Mahler. Lately, I’ve been listening to Brahms, almost to the exclusion of everything else.
Among the Russians, I like Shostakovich and Rimsky-Korsakov. My favorite Shostakovich symphonies are 5 and 9, and I’m also quite fond of the piano and cello concertos.
The Leningrad Symphony kind of loses me, but I’ve read a couple books about how it was composed and first performed during the great siege. A lot of the original musicians didn’t survive the cold and starvation. The Soviet leadership flew Shostakovich out of the besieged city, so he was safe — or about as safe as one could be during that awful time.