Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8 - Gianandrea Noseda, London Symphony Orchestra
Composed against a cataclysmic backdrop of Stalinist oppression and the Second World War, Shostakovich's Eighth Symphony is a deeply affecting poem of suffering. The composer described it as "an attempt to reflect the terrible tragedy of war" and it contains some of the most terrifying music he ever wrote. Gianandrea Noseda conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in a recording captured live at London's Barbican Centre in 2018.