The stirring programme for this concert is shot through with dramatic images. The Swiss composer Othmar Schoeck had already denounced society’s uncaring attitude towards the individual in his song cycle «Lebendig begraben» («Buried Alive»). And in his Fifth Symphony of 1937, Dmitri Shostakovich managed to compose his way back into Stalin’s favour after years of criticism and vilification. Only years later did he reveal the ironic allusions to criticism of the regime in his work.