The composer himself never matched the joy, optimism and boldness of his first teenage symphony, as the chill of Stalinism settled on his music The composer himself never matched the joy, optimism and boldness of his first teenage symphony, as the chill of Stalinism settled on his music T his week we mark two extraordinary centenaries. Sir David Attenborough ’s, of course, but only four days after the birth of the bona fide national treasure, Dmitri Shostakovich’s First Symphony also first saw