Weakened by a series of chronic illnesses and aware of his impending death, Shostakovich looks back on his life in Symphony No.15 in A major, op.141. The work opens with cheerful reminiscences from his youth, featuring quotations from his early works and allusions to Rossini. But already by the second movement, a funeral march rich with self-quotation, the mood changes. In the cantabile movement which follows, one hears the murmuring ghosts of the past. With echoes of Richard Wagner, the eerie f...

I Allegretto - II Adagio - III Allegretto - IV Adagio