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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2/6

NEW

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

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/6

NEW

MUSIC

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.



4/6

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



5/6

NEW

MUSIC

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



6/6

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


shostakovich's 15th symphony

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