London Symphony Orchestra/Noseda, Stikhina & Kowalyow - Shostakovich & Beethoven by Shostakovich, Noiztik (2022/2022), Zuzendaria Gianandrea Noseda, Barbican Centre, London, United Kingdom

Across two centuries, Beethoven and Shostakovich speak to each other – and to us – as Gianandrea Noseda finds the common humanity in two very different, but equally powerful, symphonies. Opposites attract, they say. Shostakovich’s Fourteenth Symphony is a searching, intensely personal meditation on untimely death. Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony explodes outwards with unstoppable energy: a sunlit, exuberant affirmation of life, in music that seems to make the whole universe dance. These two composers saw humanity at its best and worst, and whether they’re dealing with darkness or light, both symphonies pierce straight to the heart with uncompromising sincerity and power. For Gianandrea Noseda, Shostakovich and Beethoven are natural partners, each illuminating and affirming the other; add Noseda’s special affinity with both composers, plus two of Russia’s finest living singers, and this should be a combustible mixture.