Shostakovich was in Leningrad when the epic German siege of the city began in the summer of 1941. He wrote the first three movements of his Seventh Symphony there, completing the work after he and his family were evacuated in the fall. The Symphony was premiered in March 1942, in the provisional Russian capital of Kuibyshev, and it quickly made its way around the world as a symbol of Russian resistance.

Come for:

A powerful expression of spirited defiance – although just what or whom Shostakovich was defying is now subject to debate.

And more:

Brilliant violinist Jennifer Koh plays the Janus-faced Concerto that Prokofiev wrote during the revolutionary upheavals of 1917.