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7/25/2019 Shostakovich's 15th Symphony
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Shostakovich's 15th SymphonyAuthor(s): Norman Kay
Source: Tempo, No. 100 (1972), pp. 36-40Published by: Cambridge University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/942526Accessed: 10-11-2015 14:40 UTC
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7/25/2019 Shostakovich's 15th Symphony
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MUSIC
Shostakovich's
gth
Symphony
Norman
Kay
SHOSTAKOVICH
'snewsymphonyis
n
fourmovements
nd s
scored
for n
orchestra
of
average
size. There are no
harps
or
pianos
this
time,
but
the
percussion
de-
partment
oes include
vibraphones
nd
xylophones,
wood-blocks
and
castanets,
in
addition
o various
types
f
drum.
The
work was
first
performed
n
8
January
of
this
year by
the U.S.S.R.
Radio
Symphony
rchestra
under the
composer's
son,
and
first
eard
in
the
West on
12
April,
when
a
recording
f the Moscow
premiere
was
broadcast
by
the B.B.C.
The
present
rticle
was
by
then
already
in
proof.
A
first
reading
f the score
gives
the
impression
hatthe
symphony
n some
respectsrevertsto the series of works leadingup to the tenthand eleventh
symphonies.
In
other
words,
it
bypasses
the
plangent,
tortured
moods of
its
immediate
predecessors-No.
13,
with that
explosive
Babi
Yar'
setting,
nd
No.
14,
with
ts
obsessive
protest
gainst
the
dying
f the
light'.
Important
hough
the
grave
nd solemn
passages
may
be
in
the new
work,
they
do not dominate he
scene.
Indeed,
in
his
purely
nstrumental
symphonies,
hostakovich
as
always
aimed
to transcend
is
privatemelancholy
nd
pessimism.
After he
premiere
f
his
Tenth
Symphony,
or
instance,
he
issued
a
statementwhose self-criticism
seemed,
to Western
ars at
least,
strangely
nreal:
he had
always
wanted,
he
said,
to
begin
one
of
his
symphonies
ith a
true
symphonic
llegro,
but he
felt
hathe
had beenno more successfulnthe Tenth than nanyof tspredecessors.
Clearly
his almost
obsessive
concern with
a
concept
of
symphonic
writing
which
(one
might
rgue)
died with Mendelssohn
s
genuine
nd
personal,
rather
than reaction
o
official
ressure.
t
suggests
hathe sees
in
such
writing
means
of
dissolving
is
private diosyncrasies
n
a
continuum
f
healthy,
alanced
activity,
and that
for
him an
opening
movement
containing
mixed
tempi
is a
deviation
from
his
deal,
a
fallfrom
grace.
This,
surely,
s
why
he
struggles,
ime and
again,
(
1972
by
Norman
Kay
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7/25/2019 Shostakovich's 15th Symphony
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37
to
work within controls which
are
classical
in
origin--uniformity
f
tempo,
clarity
f melodic
outline,
a
stylistic
orm which will allow him to
communic-
ate
images
that
are not
likely
to raise too
many spectres,
pose
too
many
im-
ponderables, nd force toomany f his innerdilemmas n the istener.
A
fine ideal.
But
fortunately
hostakovichhas never
been
successful
n
reaching
his
conscious
goal;
and
the
tensionbetween
aim and
reality
s
one
of
the
reasons
why
his best work
escapes
banality.
A
would-be
unproblematic
Allegro
usually
eveals,
under
the surface
activity,
much slower rate of harmonic
change
than
might
e
expected-a process
which
culminated
n
the second
movement f
the Eleventh
Symphony,
where
the
contrast
s
made
explicit
for
programmatic
reasons.
The one
place
where
the
conscious' Shostakovich eems
to be in
com-
plete
control
s
the
first
movementof the Ninth
Symphony;
ut
even
here,
the
pacing
is
geared
down
to the
slower brass statements
dominating
he
develop-mentsection.
Again,
n the
dialogue
confrontationsf the
concertos-high,
fast
woodwind,
for
instance,
against
lower
strings
or
brass-it
is
invariably
he
underpinning
armonic
rameworkwhich takes
precedence
and carriesthe
main
melodic
line.
The
opening
movement f
the
present ymphony
s
the
crowning
example
of Shostakovich
pursuing
his
ideal of the
classically
ontrolled
allegro. Having
set his
tempo-in
fact,
a
fairly
moderate
one,
allegretto,
crotchet
2o--he
goes right hrough
his
fairly
ong
movementwithout
specifying
single change
of
speed.
(But
a
performance
ould be
absurdly
iteral
f t did
not
gather
mpetus
as it approachedthe centralclimaxof themovement, r, conversely, elax well
beforethe
coda.)
The
initial
gambit
s
a
tiny
motive:
'ell
/~i
-p
mcmi
Strs.
pizz.
I'
I
S11
.
,
t..
11
In its
economy,
he motive
recalls the
opening
phrase
of
the First
Cello
Concerto;
and the remainder
f the movement emains aithfulo that
dmirable
precedent
in that t strives
or n
unflagging
obility.
The main
body
of
the movement as
scarcelybegunbeforethe basis of thismobility s revealed. There have been
many
Shostakovich
movements
n
which
most
or all
of the
contributory
otives
contain
elements hatcan
be
interchanged
etween one
motive
and
another;
but
this
is
the
first
n
which the foundation f
an
entire
single-flow
movement
s
related
to an outside source.
After everalbroad
hints,
he musical
discourse
ud-
denly,
and
apparently ncongruously,
ntroduces
he
famous unefrom
Rossini's
*Ex. corrections:
ars6
and
7,
1.h.
chords,
dd d' and
change
tof
natural.
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7/25/2019 Shostakovich's 15th Symphony
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38
TEMPO
William
ell
overture:
Ex.2
Tpt,
Tpts.
Tbn,.
1
11
-
I
I
?- 9,-
n- 6 .0
--16.-46
O
46-
O
,-
-
Henceforth
his
'supra-personal'
motive ominates he
discussion,
ot
only
through
its built-in
tempo-which
is
quite
inalienable--but
also because
every
other
motive
radiates rom
t and
returns o
it
by
way
of ts
intervallic
shape.
In
view
of
the
composer's
conscious
aims,
the entire
structure
s
a
tour-de-force f
concentration,
elf-dissolutionnd musical
economy.
At
long
last
Shostakovich
has
avoided
the kind of mixed
statement,
llegro
in
intention,
ndante n
mood,
which
he felt o be
his
peculiar
weakness.
Significantly
he
motivating
dea he has
borrowed
s
unrelated
o the classical
Viennese
modelswhich
might
ave
answered
his need
in
musically
more elevated
terms.
Moreover,
there re no
contradictory
or
questioning
lements
within ts
narrow
orbit.
He
is
therefore ree to intro-
duce
them
strictly
n terms of his
own
argument:
the
tritonethat defines he
subsequent mbiguous
harmonization
f
the Tell motive
s
analogous
to the
one
implicit
n
Ex.
i.
Incidentally
t is
worth
noting
that
the
juxtaposition
of
A,
and Amajortonalitiesntheopeningphrase eadsbynatural xtension o melodic
formulations
using
ll
twelve
notes
of
the
chromatic
cale.
Most of
Shostakovich's
recent
cores
feature twelve-note'
passages
f
this
kind,
and
the
present
ones are
just
as
remote
from erial
integration
s
their
predecessors.
In
the
general
ine of its motivic
development,
he
first
movement f the
Fifteenth
esembles he
vast
majority
f ts
predecessors:
t starts
rom
ts
cryptic
source-motive,
nd
expands
ach interval ntil
complete
theme
s
formed;
then,
from he
theme's
tail-end,
new motive
s
created,
which also
expands
n
similar
manner.
This
is
the
inear,
additive
method
hat
was
first
fully
dumbrated
n the
opening
movement
f
the Fifth
Symphony,
nd later
developed
to
epic
propor-
tions in the Tenth (where, indeed, each motive was subjectedto a processof
extended
development
before
making
way
for the next
section).
The
present
movement's
rue
development
ectionreverses he whole
process:
the constituent
particles
are
separated
again,
and thrown
against
each other
in
the
crescendo
section
leading
to the
inevitableclimax. There
is
no
discontinuity,
owever;
each
particle
s
repeated
within tself
o
form
solid,
continuous ine
facing
he
opposing
surface.
The
Rossini
excerpt
which
triggered
ff he
process
is never
lost
sight
of,
and its
initial
interval
of
a fourthdominates
every
stage
of
the
argument.
By
comparison,
the
Adagio
is
simple
and
straightforward
n
style.
Two
quotations ink it with the EleventhSymphony,nd there are manyechoes of
other
Shostakovich
low movements.
One
feature,however,
is
unusual. The
funereal
march
which
occupies
the central
position
in
the
movement
suddenly
launches
itself
nto
an extensive
fortissimo
dialogue
between
insistent
quavers
high
up
on
strings
nd
woodwind,
and the theme
nd
its
harmonic
ramework n
brass
and lower
strings.
(The
crudely
obvious orchestration
arks
back to the
early
days
when
Shostakovich,
ornbetween
piano
playing
nd
composition,
end-
ed to
transfer
piano
techniques
irectly
o the
orchestra.
Like the earlier
nstances
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7/25/2019 Shostakovich's 15th Symphony
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39
-the
slow movementof the First
Symphony,
he
Allegro
non
Troppo
of the
Fifth
Symphony-this
ne is
clearly rompted
y
the different
sustaining
ower
of
the
piano's
high
and
low
registers.)
The route
by
which the
recapitulation
s
reached Ex. 3) shows one of the direct
quotations
rom he firstmovement f the
Eleventh
Symphony,
nd also
one
of
the work's
'twelve-note' statements
which
has no
further tructural
significance).
Ex,3
a
tempo,
-
u
Strsv
(J
-,'.J
r
A
-'3--
______ ____
-
.,
;R
A
1
L'
Z
-
NI-.
I I
I
7167
Celeste
Pe
#
1F ?d
Vibes.
-
:
.
.
.
.
.4-- , op - l~
'
The
third
movement
s an
allegretto
with
a
satirical
edge
to
it.
The
pungent,
separated
violinnotes reflect
many
f
the
facets f
the
first
movement.
Everything
is
again
under strict
temporal
control,
but
the
generalrange
s more
restricted.
No one
familiar
with Shostakovich
n
this
mood
will
be
surprised
hat this is
wherehe chooses to introducehis own motif-DscH, transposedn thiscase a
major
thirddown
(sixth
bar after
Fig.92).
The last
movement
begins
with
a
double
quotation
from The
Ring,
which
comprises
he
so-called
Fate Motive
and the
rhythm
f
Siegfried's
uneral
March.
The Fate
Motive
s
twice recalled
by
the brass
during
he
course of the
movement.
Is it
meant o
comment,
s
guardedly
s
possible,
upon
the evanescence f
routine,
poster-coloured
ptimism?
erhaps.
But at
fig.
i
9
Shostakovich
points
o a
more
personal
significance
y
allowing
the
brass
to
vary
the
Wagner
quotation
in
order to
show
its
relationship
o the DSCH motif.
In view of
the
despairing
se
of that
motto
throughout
he
Eighth
tring
Quartet,
nd
of
the nature
f
Wagner's
minatory
plunge
into darkness,the present association can only representa
fundamental
pessimism
ulling gainst
he
apparent asy
activity
f
an
otherwise
light-fingered
inale. It
shows
that the relief from
gravity-a
relief
borrowed
from
Rossini-must
finally
make
way
for the contradictions
nd
complexities
of
Shostakovich'sown
temperament.
Despite
the
insistently
epeated
allegretto
markings,
he
fundamental
tendency
remains
exactly
what it was in
the slow
movementof
the
First
Symphony,
n the
predominant
mood
of
the First
Cello
Concerto,
in
the
opening
of the Tenth
Symphony,
r,
indeed,
in
the music for
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7/25/2019 Shostakovich's 15th Symphony
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40
TEMPO
the
Soviet
film version of
'Hamlet'. Shostakovich
s,
and
always
has
been,
a
tragedian,
man for whom it is
more
natural
to
struggle
han to
succeed,
to
sympathize
ather than
to
overcome,
to
mourn rather than to act.
And,
in
thisfinale,his natural bias reveals itself n the
personal
terms which the first
movement enied.
From
TEMPO
No.I
(January
1939)
BELA
BARTOK
At
the
second
of two
contemporary
oncerts which
we
gave
at
our Music Studio
during
the
IscM
Festival
ast
summer,
Bart6k
played
i
S
numbersfrom
his
new series
of short
pianos
collectively
entitledMikrokosmos.t the Festival
proper,
Bart6kmade a
deep
impression
withhis Sonata for
Two
Pianos
and
Percussion,
n which
the
composer's
wife took
part.
Another
of his recent works
which
has also scored
an
extraordinary
uccess
is
the
Music for
Strings,
Percussion
and
Celesta,
no less than
fifty
erformances aving
een
given during
he
1937-38
season
alone.
BENJAMIN
BRITTEN
The
reputation
which
this
young
composer
has
gained
in
England
during
the
last few
years
s now
spreading
o
the Continent
nd
America.
His
Variations
n
a
Theme
of
Frank
Bridge,
erformed
t
the
IsCM
Festival
last
June,
favourably
mpressed
the
many foreign
musicians
present,
and three
conductors
(Eugene
Goossens,
Paul
Sacher and Hermann
Scherchen)
t once decided to
include t
n
their
programmes.
Twenty-four
erformances
re
already
nnounced
for
the
present
eason.
Anthony
ayne
and
his
'Paean'
Susan
Bradshaw
Richard
Rodney
ennett
ANY
forward-looking
oung
omposer
must
select
a direction
of his own
from
the
many
technical
nd
stylistic ossibilities
t
present
open
to him. Never
has
the
choice
been
so
wide or the
need
for t
so crucial
as
during
the
last
twenty
years;
the
alternatives
ave
ranged
from otal
organization
usually
rithmetical)
at the
one
extreme,
to
total
anarchy
the
post-Cage
school)
at
the
other.
The
experiments
f the
95
o's
with
regard
o
serializing
ll theavailable
parameters'
were
an
essential
stage
n
post-war
musical
development
nd,
if bortive
nthem-
selves,
have
none
the
ess
eft heir
mark
n the
compositional
world
of the
I970's
-as, too,have theworksresultingrom he nevitablewaveof nti-serial eaction.
Nevertheless,
many
of
the
more
interesting
omposers
of our time-such
as
Elliott
Carter,
George
Crumb,
Peter
Maxwell Davies
and Luciano
Berio-have
successfully
stablished
heir
own
positions
somewhere
between
these two ex-
tremes.
The
English
omposer
Anthony ayne
b.
1936)
hasachieved
a
similarly
idiomatic
tyle
by
meansof
an
equally
ndividual
pproach.
(
1972
by
Susan Bradshaw
and Richard
Rodney
Bennett
Music
examples
0
1972
by Anthony
Payne
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