Volume Two of the Gothenburg Symphony's Shostakovich vocal cycle brings together settings of Japanese poetry, Marina Tsvetayeva's complex verses, and Michelangelo's sonnets—an unexpected but deeply moving collection. Recorded in 1995 under Neeme Järvi, soloists Elena Zaremba, Ilya Levinsky, and Sergei Leiferkus navigate Shostakovich's intricate vocal lines and orchestral landscapes. The Japanese poetry settings bring an almost impressionistic quality to his modernist voice, while the Michelangelo Suite stands as one of his late-period masterpieces—austere, spiritual, and deeply humane. These recordings reveal the full scope of Shostakovich's gift for setting words to music.