Symphonies Nos. 6 & 9 by Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra

Dmitri Shostakovich

Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra | Daniel Raiskin

Symphonies Nos. 6 & 9

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917200430
Catnr: CC 720043
Release date: 01 May 2026
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1 CD	€ 19.95	Preorder

Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917200430

Catalogue number
CC 720043

Release date
01 May 2026

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

About the album

Shostakovich’s Sixth and Ninth Symphonies stand as sharply contrasting yet deeply connected reflections of a century scarred by violence, fear, and forced optimism. The Sixth Symphony, composed in 1939 at the height of Stalin’s Great Terror, opens with a vast, searing Largo that unfolds like a requiem for a silenced society—mourning lost friends, broken lives, and collective suffering. Its bleak introspection is followed by movements of icy detachment and grotesque parody, where frantic energy and empty cheer mask a profound spiritual void. Through this unsettling trajectory, Shostakovich speaks with “secret freedom,” revealing a truth that words could not safely express: a tragic meditation on human dignity under oppression.

Written in 1945, the Ninth Symphony defies expectations of monumental victory music. Instead of triumphal bombast, Shostakovich offers a compact, ironic, and life-affirming work, brimming with wit, clarity, and subtle defiance. Beneath its Haydnesque lightness and carnival spirit linger shadows of war, grief, and memory—solemn brass rituals, elegiac melodies, and moments of fragile reflection. In this recording, the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra and Daniel Raiskin illuminate the symphonies’ dual nature: tragedy entwined with irony, joy haunted by loss. Together, these works form a powerful portrait of resilience, humanity, and artistic truth in the face of history’s darkest pressures.

Artist(s)

Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra

Daniel Raiskin (conductor)

With his unmistakable artistic signature, Daniel Raiskin has become one of the most recognized conductors of his generation and had developed a broad repertoire beyond the mainstream in his strikingly conceived programmes. A son of a prominent musicologist, Daniel Raiskin grew up in St. Petersburg. He attended the celebrated conservatory in his native city and continued his studies in Amsterdam and Freiburg. First focusing on viola, he was inspired to take up the baton as a result of an encounter with the distinguished teacher Lev Savich. In addition, he also took classes with Maestri such as Mariss Jansons, Neeme Järvi, Milan Horvat, Woldemar Nelson und Jorma Panula. From the 2020/2021 season Daniel Raiskin is the Principal Conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic...

From the 2020/2021 season Daniel Raiskin is the Principal Conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra in Bratislava. He is Music Director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra since August 2018 and Principal Guest Conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra from season 2017/18.

His regular guest appearances include the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Naples Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra Taiwan, Niederösterreichische Tonkünstlerorchester, Orchestre National de Belgique, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, Osaka Philharmonic, Residentie Orkest, Sinfonia Varsovia, Stuttgarter Philharmonikern, Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. His appearances in opera productions include Carmen, Shostakovich’s The Nose and Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Within the InClassica Dubai International Music Festival 2021 and 2022 he conducted the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra. Furthermore, he will conduct this orchestra on a tour in Japan in 2023.

Raiskin was Chief Conductor of the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie in Koblenz (2005- 2016) and of the Artur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra in Lódz (2008-2015), and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife (season 2017/18)

Daniel Raiskin is also relentlessly committed to sharing his knowledge and passion with young musicians around the world. He devotes his time regularly to working with youth orchestras in a.o. Canada, Estonia, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands and South Africa.

Among the major soloists with whom he has appeared are Emanuel Ax, Rudolf Buchbinder, Cameron Crozman, Xavier de Maistre, Renée Fleming, Nelson Freire, Martin Fröst, Alban Gerhardt, Vadim Gluzman, Natalia Gutman, Daniel Hope, Kari Kriikku, Simone Lamsma, Lang Lang, Francois Leleux, Jan Lisiecki, Alexei Lubimov, Tatjana Masurenko, Albrecht Mayer, Daniel Müller-Schott, Olli Mustonen, Julian Rachlin, Benjamin Schmid, Julian Steckel, Anna Vinnitskaya, Lukáš Vondráček and Alexei Volodin.

Recent recordings include Mahler Symphony No. 3 and Shostakovich Symphony No. 4 with the label AVI, both to great critical acclaim. His recording with cello concertos by Korngold, Bloch and Goldschmidt with Julian Steckel and the label AVI received an Echo Klassik Award in 2012. Other recent recording projects include a Louis Glass Symphony cycles and a concerto cycle with the entire concertos and rhapsodies by Aram Khachaturian, both with the label CPO,Lutosławski’s vocal-instrumental works with the label Dux and a recording of Alexander Tansman’s Isaie le Prophète and Psaumes with the label World Premiere Recordings.

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Composer(s)

Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Shostakovich was a Russian pianist and composer of the Soviet period. He is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century.
Shostakovich achieved fame in the Soviet Union under the patronage of Soviet chief of staff Mikhail Tukhachevsky, but later had a complex and difficult relationship with the government. Nevertheless, he received accolades and state awards and served in the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (1947–1962) and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (from 1962 until his death).
A polystylist, Shostakovich developed a hybrid voice, combining a variety of different musical techniques into his works. His music is characterized by sharp contrasts, elements of the grotesque, and ambivalent tonality; the composer was also heavily influenced by the neo-classical style pioneered by Igor Stravinsky, and (especially in his symphonies) by the late Romanticism associated with Gustav Mahler.
Shostakovich's orchestral works include 15 symphonies and six concerti. His chamber output includes 15 string quartets, a piano quintet, two piano trios, and two pieces for string octet. His solo piano works include two sonatas, an early set of preludes, and a later set of 24 preludes and fugues. Other works include three operas, several song cycles, ballets, and a substantial quantity of film music; especially well known is The Second Waltz, Op. 99, music to the film The First Echelon (1955–1956), as well as the suites of music composed for The Gadfly.

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