Shostakovich, Symphony No.9 in E flat major, op.70 with an introductory essay by Leonard Bernstein

Recorded live at the Musikverein in Vienna in 1985, this concert features not only Shostakovich's Ninth Symphony performed by the Vienna Philharmonic, but also an introductory essay by Leonard Bernstein. With respect to Shostakovich's position as one of the few composers after Beethoven to reach a "ninth" symphony, Bernstein says: "The mystique of the number nine exerted itself in an odd way, so typical of Shostakovich: he didn't avoid writing one out of either humility or superstition; he simply wrote the least predictable and most surprising Ninth there is - short, hilarious, circusy - an all-out fiesta, gleefully proclaiming 'Hurray: the war is over!' In short, Shostakovich thumbed his nose at the great tradition of Ninths - although he was perfectly capable of writing colossal symphonies, as we know from the 7th and 8th that had preceded them. But he was a great nose-thumber; it has even been suggested that he was thumbing it at Stalin himself."