Favorite Moments in a Shostakovich Symphony

[karlhenning]

With a nod to Luke's apt refinement . . . that sudden crescendo which opens the fourth movement of the Fifth, following as it does the quiet fragility of the close of the Largo, gets me every time.

[karlhenning]

And that moment in the fourth movement of the Fifth Symphony, after the sustained shimmering chord in the strings with the harp ostinato (drawn, IIRC, from one of the Opus 46 Pushkin Romances), when the basses bring in a quiet tritone to prepare a sudden harmonic shift for the recap.

[jochanaan]

Ha, just found this! Let's see:

Symphony #1: the snare drum roll between the third and last movements.
Symphony #4, last movement: the final reappearance of the main theme in the low brass, fff; the long fadeout with celesta.
Symphony #8, first movement: the English horn solo towards the end.  (Of course, I'm prejudiced; I play English horn. )
Symphony #10, first movement: the piccolo duet at the end.  Second movement--the whole thing.
Symphony #14, third "song:" the chime stroke that interrupts the string rush.

[Opus106]

[Symphony #4] the long fadeout with celesta.

Yes. For me, a new addition today.

I am surprised to find that I'm one of only three respondents who have mentioned the ending of the 11th.

[bhodges]

Yes. For me, a new addition today.

I am surprised to find that I'm one of only three respondents who have mentioned the ending of the 11th.

Well, now there are four of us.    Actually, the entire 11th--one of my favorite Shostakovich symphonies--is filled with fave moments. 

Others:

Symphony No. 4: Too many to count--currently my favorite of his symphonies.
Symphony No. 6: At the very end of the second movement, the ascending woodwind scale that ends it.
Symphony No. 10: All of the Allegro, one of my favorite pieces of music by anyone.
Symphony No. 15: The whirring, clicking ending of the entire piece, with the strings holding a softly sustained pedal while the percussion section throws out all sorts of castanets, wood blocks, drums and xylophone--miraculous.

--Bruce

[Opus106]

Well, now there are four of us.    Actually, the entire 11th--one of my favorite Shostakovich symphonies--is filled with fave moments. 

Coming to these works for the first time, I was under the assumption that 11th was one among the most popular of the lot. Apparently not. The Tenth's ending is just too happy for me (similarly, the 5th's too), although I like the work as a whole.

[bhodges]

Coming to these works for the first time, I was under the assumption that 11th was one among the most popular of the lot. Apparently not. The Tenth's ending is just too happy for me (similarly, the 5th's too), although I like the work as a whole.

That's what I thought, too, on hearing the 11th the first time, e.g., "Wow, this must be a huge hit," but no, it's not. 

However, I challenge anyone to hear a good live performance of it--I've been lucky to hear it maybe three times in concert--and come away unmoved.  The last time was a couple of years ago with the Cleveland Orchestra, and they were able to play it, shall we say, "more than decently."     

--Bruce

[Scarpia]

That's what I thought, too, on hearing the 11th the first time, e.g., "Wow, this must be a huge hit," but no, it's not. 

I'm one of those people who don't get it. 

[Brian]

That's what I thought, too, on hearing the 11th the first time, e.g., "Wow, this must be a huge hit," but no, it's not. 

However, I challenge anyone to hear a good live performance of it--I've been lucky to hear it maybe three times in concert--and come away unmoved.  The last time was a couple of years ago with the Cleveland Orchestra, and they were able to play it, shall we say, "more than decently."     

--Bruce

Guess what Vasily Petrenko is conducting next week with the London Philharmonic. 

[karlhenning]

Guess what Vasily Petrenko is conducting next week with the London Philharmonic. 

That's a piece I'd love to hear done well, live.  For it hasn't quite made a great claim on my sonic affections, either : )

[bhodges]

Guess what Vasily Petrenko is conducting next week with the London Philharmonic. 

And I guess you're going, you lucky dog!    Do report back...

--Bruce

[Opus106]

Guess what Vasily Petrenko is conducting next week with the London Philharmonic. 

I'll have an eye out for air-checks. Was it the LSO or the LPO that offered free downloads/streaming(?) of some of their concerts?

[vandermolen]

Really have to protest this sort of thing: speaking of one's impression of the music, as though it were a property of the music.  It's the musicological equivalent of painting a mustache on La gioconda: the artwork means what my perception of it says it means.

I love the final passage of the Fourth Symphony; I think it cheapens the passage immeasurably, to boil it down to a single specific impression.  Even from the perspective of you two chaps, it saddens me — because you've found a box to put the music in, a box which is far too small for the actual music.

Hi Karl,


I don't for one minute suggest that my own subjective reaction to the end of Shostakovich's 4th Symphony is what the music actually 'means' - that would be absurd and presumptious. I guess that in view of the time of its composition, during the Great Purges in the USSR and being a history teacher myself - I tend to see the work as reflecting the time of its composition to some extent, although this is my own personal reaction.

Jeffrey

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

Symphony No. 4: Too many to count--currently my favorite of his symphonies.

Interesting. I didn't get the point of the symphony as a whole - OK, just had two complete listenings.

[Brian]

I'll have an eye out for air-checks. Was it the LSO or the LPO that offered free downloads/streaming(?) of some of their concerts?

Sadly, I don't know.

[karlhenning]

Hi Karl,

I don't for one minute suggest that my own subjective reaction to the end of Shostakovich's 4th Symphony is what the music actually 'means' - that would be absurd and presumptious. I guess that in view of the time of its composition, during the Great Purges in the USSR and being a history teacher myself - I tend to see the work as reflecting the time of its composition to some extent, although this is my own personal reaction.

Jeffrey

I appreciate that, Jeffrey, thanks. I must have had a bad clam in the chowder.

[karlhenning]

Symphony No. 4: Too many to count--currently my favorite of his symphonies.

Very often mine, as well, Bruce!

[not edward]

The 4th is full of wonderful moments, and the discussion about the end brings to mind the question "just what is the celesta doing floating upwards at the end?"

I think Schnittke once not-entirely-frivolously claimed his entire oeuvre was an attempt to answer that question--an unanswerable one, of course, but the rising celesta does for me add a question mark to the end of a work that would otherwise end in unambiguous tragedy. (And that, to me, is one of the strokes of--pace Josquin--genius in the work.)

[karlhenning]

The 4th is full of wonderful moments, and the discussion about the end brings to mind the question "just what is the celesta doing floating upwards at the end?"

I think Schnittke once not-entirely-frivolously claimed his entire oeuvre was an attempt to answer that question--an unanswerable one, of course, but the rising celesta does for me add a question mark to the end of a work that would otherwise end in unambiguous tragedy.

The celesta begins with a four-note figure, ascending at leaps, arpeggiating the tonic c minor triad.  That gesture repeats literally.  It is in harmony with the rest of the texture, but is trying to rise out from among it?  At the last, there are two single pitches, neither of them chord-tones, extending the ascent.

So simple, but so rich.

And so wrong for the musical environment of its time . . . .

[ Edit :: typos, atrocious typos ]

[not edward]

The celesta begins with a four-note figure, ascending at leaps, arpeggiating the tonic c minor triad.  That gesture repeats literally.  It is in harmpny with the rest of the texture, but is trying to rise out from among it?  At the last, there are two single pitches, neither of them chord-tones, extended the ascent.

So simple, but so rich.

And so wrong for the musical environment of its time . . . .

Exactly. The stroke of genius for me is how those last two notes call the rest of the coda into question: I don't have a recording or score with me at the moment, but as I recall almost everything in the coda is based around the C minor triad (stop me if I'm wrong!). And so as the music is limping to a close, DSCH adds those two very quiet last notes (they're still in a C minor scale, I believe) that completely subvert the triadic harmony.

And I find this one of the most remarkable moments in a symphony chock-full with such; two soft notes subtly changing the whole end of the work.