LISTENING TO TCHAIKOVSKY: Béla Hartmann uses his knowledge of Eastern Europe to argue against the banning of all Russian culture following Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
CENTRAL ENGLAND: Mike Wheeler's concert reviews from Nottingham and Derbyshire feature high profile artists on the UK circuit - often quite early on their tours.
Dmitri Shostakovich's four act opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District was first performed in Leningrad on 22 January 1934, and then two days later in Moscow. Criticised in Pravda for its morality, the opera became the butt of the Communist Party's displeasure with Shostakovich's music, and was banned in the Soviet Union until 1961.
The opera tells the story of a bored, unhappy nineteenth century Russian woman who has an affair with one of her husband's workers, and kills her husband's father, her husband and later, her boyfriend's new girlfriend.
Ensemble. Blood and Orgasms - Dmitri Shostakovich's 'Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District' in Naples, heard by Giuseppe Pennisi
Ensemble. Sex and Violence in Salzburg - Giuseppe Pennisi reports on Shostakovich's 'Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District'
Record Box. Fundamentals of Censorship - Shostakovich's Fourth Symphony, reviewed by Robert Anderson
DVD Spotlight. Shostakovich's Shocker - 'Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk', reviewed by Robert Anderson. '... fully appropriate disorder ...'