Soviet composers were always concerned about their music's meaning, partly because their government - particularly under Stalin - took an active interest in what Soviet art signified to the people. Soviet officials did not speculate about abstract musical meaning. Symphonies were believed to make particular statements, and those statements were either favorable or not.

The Shostakovich work premiered in 1953 following the death of Stalin, and paints a bleak portrait of life under the dictator's rule. "Between the epic statement of Shostakovich's tenth symphony and the sheer drama of the Overture No. 2 by Tormis, we can hear two distinct voices related to their response to the Stalinist era," said Mr. Järvi. "On this disc the two pieces appear together as works emerging from two countries at a common point in their history, both sharing the same conviction, urgency and strength."