Now they’ll devour him

Today Donald Macleod takes a look at Shostakovich's relationship with his first wife, Nina, and we learn how he coped when she was gone. We hear his Second Piano Concerto - a piece he wrote for his 19-year-old son Maxim - in a recording with the composer on the piano, and his Seventh String Quartet, which Shostakovich wrote in his wife Nina’s memory, to commemorate what would have been her 50th birthday.

This week we're exploring Dmitri Shostakovich the family man. We are turning our attention to the middle of the Russian composer's life, hearing about his relationship with his two children (Galina, born in 1936, and Maxim, born in 1938) and his first wife Nina, who he was married to from 1935 until her death in 1954.

Festive Overture Op 96
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Neeme Järvi, conductor

Symphony No. 10 in E minor, Op. 93 (4th mvmt)
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Vasily Petrenko, conductor

Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, Op. 102
Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française
André Cluytens, conductor
Dmitry Shostakovich, piano

String Quartet No. 7 in F sharp minor, Op. 108
Borodin String Quartet

Youth (Romance) from The Gadfly
Janine Jansen, violin
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Barry Wordsworth, conductor

Producer: Amy Wheel, BBC Cymru Wales