Matthias Goerne (soloist)
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Mikko Franck

Shostakovich: Suite on verses by Michelangelo Buonarroti, for bass & orchestra, Op. 145a
Shostakovich: October, Symphonic Poem Op. 131

Matthias Goerne, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and Mikko Franck continue their series of recordings of Shostakovich's symphonic works with baritone, with the Suite on Verses of Michelangelo Buonarroti (1974) and the symphonic poem October (1967). These are two very different works: the first is one of Shostakovich’s most deeply personal creations and has no connection to the ideological issues of Soviet power. The second was commissioned by the Soviet authorities to glorify the 1917 Revolution and is filled with irony. Goerne is the perfect interpreter for Shostakovich’s great cycle of settings of verses by Michelangelo, in which intimate moments where the voice is almost a cappella alternate with powerfully dramatic passages with full orchestra.