Shostakovich composed his Funeral-Triumphal Prelude, Op. 130, for a war memorial on Mamayev Hill near Volgograd, site of the Battle of Stalingrad. The battle had been one of the bloodiest of the Great Patriotic War, and the Soviet victory there was the turning point in the war. In the summer of 1967 Shostakovich composed this brief prelude for enormous orchestra, with a huge percussion section. Indeed, so brief is the work (less than three minutes' playing time) that the title neatly describes and narrates the entire piece: after a dark and brutal opening with snare drums snarling under a lowering brass section, the music strides heroically into a grand and solemn march. Although not a particularly distinguished work, the Funeral-Triumphal Prelude still admirably fulfills its purpose.

© All Music Guide