Music is the weapon

Music for this Monday morning: 

Memorial Day here in the United States and I thought this may be an interesting way to mark this day via music.

Dmitri Shostakovich used his Fourth to Ninth Symphony as a silent protest against the horrors of war and the crimes of Stalin.

"I had to write about it, I felt that it was my responsibility, my duty. I had to write a requiem for all those who died, who had suffered...I had to describe the horrible extermination machine and express protest against it." -Shostakovich on his Seventh Symphony depicting the tragedies of World War II.

This is an early recording of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7, Op. 60 (also called the Leningrad Symphony), given that it was composed in 1941! Arturo Toscanini leads the NBC Symphony Orchestra, recording at the NBC studios on July 19, 1942.

Relating reading on the enigma of Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony.