Bernstein in Japan: Schumann Symphony No. 1/Shostakovich Symphony No. 5
Felix Mandelssohn conducted the premiere performance of Robert Schumann's First or Spring Symphony in 1841, six weeks after the work's completion, and the composer won acclaim as a symphonist on his first try. Dmitri Shostakovich had been a darling of the Soviet regime but in 1936 began to slide into official disfavor.