Brian Hanke plays Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7 “Leningrad“

Shostakovich’s 7th Symphony has long been one of my favorite works: dramatic, original, moving and highly entertaining. I had the idea to transcribe the first movement for piano and was surprised to find that it fits under the hands beautifully, aside perhaps from the forearm-crippling snare drum during the march section. There is much debate about what the work “means,“ with the Soviets putting one narrative on it and Shostakovich himself making various contradictory public and private statements, even to the point of suggesting the movement was written before the battle it supposedly commemorates. Regardless, to me the music works perfectly even just on a purely abstract level. The middle section march is fascinating as a collision of Dave Brubeck-ian happy-go-lucky with David Lynch-ian hidden, seedy underbelly. It’s truly one of the most remarkable sequences in the entire history of music. *** Listen to Brian! Spotify