Shostakovich’s symphonies are notable for the striking contrasts between most of them but also in the spectacular variability between each: the wunderkind first, composed when Shostakovich was still in his teens, contrasted with the banality of the Second and Third, contrasted with the batshit craziness of the Fourth, the epic Fifth and the cryptic Sixth, the bloated Seventh and the masterpiece Eighth etc.

The great challenge of a Shostakovich symphonic cycle is to breathe air and “meaning” into the weaker links –  for me Nos. 2, 3, 11 and 12, all of which are also the least popular and three of which are featured in this, the final instalment of Andris Nelsons’ Boston Symphony Orchestra cycle. It’s a pity that this last instalment of what has been a highly distinguished cycle should be a grab bag of pretty awful fare, but in for a penny in for a pound, I suppose.

The Second Symphony (subtitled To October (1917)) is a two-movement affair divided into four sections with a strangely meandering introduction which appears to flirt with atonality (How did that get past the Commissars?) The rot really sets in with the vocal sections...