Dmitri Shostakovich was one of Soviet Russia’s most prolific and significant composers. His impressive orchestral works, such his fifth, seventh and eighth symphonies solidified his standing in Russia as one of its foremost symphonic composers. Which is why, towards the end of World War Two, Shostakovich was requested to compose a symphony that would be an ode to Stalin and Soviet Russia’s success in the war. It was to be his ninth symphony.