Shostakovich wrote the Seventh in besieged Leningrad, and applied final touches to the drama-laden music after he evacuated to Kuibyshev on the Volga (both cities have now regained their original names-the former St. Petersburg, and the latter Samara).
The work took him summer and autumn 1941, and Leningrad premiered the symphony the next year.
A unique blend of music and the cinema, which re-creates unprecedented staunchness of a starving and bombarded besieged city, Project Cinemaphony had its first night in St. Petersburg, January last, during the latest anniversary of the siege raised.
One of the world's foremost orchestra conductors, Maxim Shostakovich, 67, was born in Leningrad and finished a secondary music school under the city Conservatory to go on to the Moscow Conservatory, piano department. After graduation, he assisted top-notch conductors Veronica Dudarova and Evgeni Svetlanov, before he was appointed head of the Central Television and All-Union Radio symphony orchestra. He immigrated to the USA, 1981, to resettle in his native city quite recently.
The musician regards his name of Shostakovich as tremendous responsibility, he said in an interview. He feels bound to be up to his father's renown every time he faces an audience. The conductor has been, throughout his life, at one with his father through the composer's music. He has no special preference for any piece in Dmitri Shostakovich's heritage. "The music I am performing is my favorite for the day," he remarked.
