Andrew Litton's guide to the Shostakovich 8th

On the day after Dmitri Shostakovich's 100th birthday, Brian Newhouse welcomed conductor and pianist Andrew Litton to Minnesota Public Radio's UBS Forum to discuss Shostakovich's 8th Symphony, which he conducted in the opening weeks of the Minnesota Orchestra's 2006-2007 season.

As a young boy, Litton met Shostakovich and, later, gained an insider's perspective on the composer as an assistant to Shostakovich's great friend, Mstislav Rostropovich. Rostropovich considers the 8th Shostakovich's greatest symphony.

During the session, Litton performed excerpts from the piece on the piano, along with "I Got Rhythm" by George Gershwin.

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