Josef Stalin died in March 1953; Shostakovich′s 10th Symphony was first performed in December of that year. The composer had been labouring under official (i.e. Stalin’s) censure for his ‘insanely sombre and neurotic’ music  since 1948 …

The audio file below deals with the final three movements of the work (remember to adjust the volume, if you need):

To read more about the Volkov/Testimony dispute: Testimony – the Volkov controversy

As I pointed out last week Dmitri Shostakovich’s musical signature (Example 1 below –you can hear it (twice) in its sound file) dominates the latter half of his 10th Symphony.

Example 1.

also, you may find this useful…

Example 2.

If you want to go straight to the Scherzo, it starts almost exactly 24 minutes in:

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