
Shostakovich Symphony No. 7, "Leningrad"
Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast
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The Recharging Experience of the Leningrad Symphony
Eliassberg was an uncompromising conductor. Musicians regularly fainted during rehearsals, and at the first rehearsal only 15 musicians had the energy to even show up to play. Many couldn't play a single note before collapsing. And yet Eliassberg continued undaunted as he found more and more musicians to fill out the massive 100 piece orchestra. The night of the premiere came, into the hall streamed thousands of listeners. To a packed house in what is now Schusterkowich Hall in St Petersburg, the orchestra began to play.
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