Kyrill<Kirill> Kondrashin was principal conductor of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra from 1960 to 1975. A friend of the composer for 40 years, he saw him as "the moral conscience of music in Russia" and made a close study of his symphonies, which he insisted were "inseparable from the events of the composer's life".

Formerly available on Le Chant du Monde and now reissued on Melodiya, Kondrashin's cycle offers a vital insight into Shostakovich's world.