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Musical tributes on the international stage to the enigmatic and prolific Russian composer Dmitry Shostakovich are being stepped up ahead of the centenary of his birth.
Although events got underway earlier in the year, concerts, CDs and films to commemorate one of today's most popular 20th-century musicians will gain momentum around September 25.
Shostakovich's work is inextricably linked to his complex and tumultuous relationship with the Soviet government; his music was twice officially denounced, in 1936 and 1948.
But the composer, who was heavily spied-on by the Soviet Union until his death in 1975, is now universally celebrated for the originality and volume of his works, especially of instrumental music.
He composed 15 symphonies and 15 string quartets, a much rarer genre at the time than had previously been the case, helping him gain a reputation as the 'Beethoven of the 20th century".
To mark the anniversary, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw was among the front-runners to stage special events, but concerts will be held in Paris, Moscow and London, while CD releases, a series of film clips and television progammes are also planned.
Born in Saint Petersburg on September 25, 1906 to a family of Polish origin, the young Shostakovich excelled in his studies at the city's academy where he immersed himself in the music of Gustav Mahler and Modest Mussorgsky.
Even before turning 20, he had composed his First Symphony which enjoyed rapid international success and launched his career. His first opera, 'The Nose', based on a story by Gogol, followed in 1929.
And in 1934, he created the opera, 'Lady Macbeth of Mzensk', which also proved popular with more than 160 productions in two years but provoked his first run-in with the regime.
The opera did not survive Stalin's attacks over its modernity, and was reworked. Shostakovich's response was to renounce his Fourth Symphony, composed in 1936 but only completed in 1961.
And he went on to write his Fifth Symphony, less obviously political and considered more acceptable by the Soviet regime as a "constructive response" by the composer to the criticism.
But the composer's difficulties with the government did little to dint his image internationally -- during World War II his Seventh Symphony, known as 'Leningrad', won acclaim in countries fighting the Nazis.
Indeed, in the United States, Time magazine featured Shostakovich as a fireman battling a town in flames on its cover.
After his second denunciation, in 1948 for 'formalism', the composer started to divide his works between the official ones and the more personal, or even secret ones.
Often they had a touch of irony such as the cantata 'Rayok' in which he ridiculed Stalin and which only saw the light of day in 1989.
Today Shostakovich remains a character that divides opinion.
While some commentators point to his opportunism for having chosen to stay in the country and even receiving several state awards and accolades, such as becoming a Communist Party member in 1960, others disagree, highlighting his dissidence.
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AFP 201115 GMT 09 06
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