Shostakovich

0:00:06 > 0:00:11Most of us can listen to and create whatever music we like.

0:00:11 > 0:00:13KEYPAD BEEPS

0:00:13 > 0:00:14We've got that freedom.

0:00:23 > 0:00:25WHISPERS: Not everyone is so lucky.

0:00:25 > 0:00:28MUSIC: Symphony No 10 In E Minor by Dmitri Shostakovich

0:00:28 > 0:00:30Joseph Stalin, dictator, the Soviet Union.

0:00:30 > 0:00:32From the 1930s, for over two decades,

0:00:32 > 0:00:35the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich

0:00:35 > 0:00:37lived in fear of this man.

0:00:37 > 0:00:41Stalin decided what music his people should listen to.

0:00:41 > 0:00:43Everyone was watched.

0:00:43 > 0:00:46Any composer who didn't conform

0:00:46 > 0:00:48risked joining the millions of other people

0:00:48 > 0:00:52that Stalin had thrown into prison or unmarked graves.

0:00:53 > 0:00:56"If they cut off both my hands,

0:00:56 > 0:00:58"I will compose with the pen

0:00:58 > 0:01:00"between my teeth."

0:01:00 > 0:01:04That was Shostakovich's answer.

0:01:04 > 0:01:06And so he kept on composing,

0:01:06 > 0:01:09and when his music was praised, he was a national hero.

0:01:09 > 0:01:12When it offended Stalin's regime,

0:01:12 > 0:01:14he slept with his bags packed,

0:01:14 > 0:01:16waiting for the secret police to knock at his door.

0:01:16 > 0:01:18SYMPHONY CONTINUES

0:01:18 > 0:01:20In 1953, Stalin died,

0:01:20 > 0:01:24and Shostakovich was able to finish this piece -

0:01:24 > 0:01:27his 10th Symphony.

0:01:27 > 0:01:30And, to me, it feels as if the music and emotion

0:01:30 > 0:01:32that had been hidden away in his head

0:01:32 > 0:01:35suddenly came flooding out.

0:01:36 > 0:01:40Some people think this is actually an orchestral portrait

0:01:40 > 0:01:42of Stalin himself,

0:01:42 > 0:01:43but, whatever it is,

0:01:43 > 0:01:47it sounds full of panic and terror and anger.

0:01:47 > 0:01:48MARCHING FOOTSTEPS

0:01:48 > 0:01:51What can you hear? Is it the knock at the door in the dead of night?

0:01:51 > 0:01:53Knives sharpening? Bursts of gunfire?

0:01:53 > 0:01:55Hearts racing faster?

0:01:55 > 0:01:57SILENCE FALLS

0:01:57 > 0:01:58MATCH FLARES

0:01:58 > 0:02:01The Stalin's death didn't bring complete musical freedom

0:02:01 > 0:02:02for Shostakovich,

0:02:02 > 0:02:05but it was a moment in his life where he could say

0:02:05 > 0:02:08what he wanted, out loud, in music.

0:02:08 > 0:02:11SYMPHONY RESUMES