Late works often have the aura of the enigmatic. Dmitri Shostakovich’s last symphony is a musical retrospective of an eventful life full of extremes. However, cheerful childhood memories are combined with encrypted traumatic experiences of the Stalinist dictatorship. From Rossini to Wagner, musical quotations meet themes from Shostakovich’s own œuvre in order to express one’s own thoughts under the guise of others. Shostakovich’s credo: «After all, my music says it all. It doesn't need historical and hysterical commentaries. In the long run, any words about music are less important than the music.»

Even though Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto is not a late work, it was the last concerto he wrote for the piano. At the same time, it was also the first concerto in which he no longer played the premiere himself. Already deaf, Beethoven created a masterpiece full of pathos and new forms.