"This DVD investigates the arresting music that would either redeem Shostakovich or doom him. Did he dare hide a kernel of music criticism in what appears to be a paean to the motherland? Join Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony as they explore the hidden language of this masterwork. What Shostakovich has to say might depend on what you're brave enough to hear"-- Container.

Special features include: full-length concert performance of Shostakovich's Symphony no. 5 by the San Francisco Symphony.