Sjostakovitsj and Prokofjev

After the Revolution, Russia experienced a musical brain drain. Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, the best composers, left the country. The Russian premiere of The Love for Three Oranges only made the loss more painful. Then in May 1926, exactly a century ago, the 19-year-old Shostakovich debuted his brilliant First Symphony. Relief all around: the future of Russian music was saved.