Shostakovich 4,7, and 11...Chicago, We Don't Have a Problem
This season in Chicago features Shostakovich symphonies as indicated above. The 11th will be handled by the Civic.
A plea to my readers, and especially my students who are preparing for these concerts: Please forget Volkov, however entertaining a read his book might be. It’s clearly, indisputably a fraud, as conclusively proven by Laurel Fay in The Shostakovich Casebook with absolutely impeccable integrity and academic bona fides. I don’t see how you can get around it. (and I don’t see why you would want to.) If you can’t trust Volkov’s integrity, and you cannot, how can you trust anything he says?
Years ago, when I included Russian masters in my curriculuum, I used Volkov because of ignorance; I’m embarassed, and for once, sincerely. Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. I’m weeping uncontrollably as I write this. If you put your finger up to your monitor screen, you will notice that it is damp. Get the Shostakovich Casebook, the Glikman letters, the Wilson bio, or Taruskin’s Defining Russia Musically; you’ll be doing yourself a favor. I was gonna throw out the Volkov, but I decided to keep it as a reminder of my folly. But I don’t put it with my Shosty books, it doesn’t belong there. I put it with my pulp crime novels because my wife won’t let me defile her Harlequin romances with its presence.
I’m given to jaw-dropping hyperbole, but I’m serious on this one.
The Fourth, Seventh, and Eleventh are each the greatest symphonic achievement ever in at least one aspect.
1. The Fourth has the greatest coda in symphonic history. A catastrophe; A shrieking cry of agony in the shape of a fractured chorale followed by numbness. And the uncanny happens in the finale…as you’re listening to the farrago of carnival or pop tunes following the impressive marcia funebre that launches the finale, you sense inevitably, and with palpable unease, the catastrophe that’s headed your way. The first time, every time you hear it. In the finale of the Sixth Symphony, you correctly sence that you’ll have fun carnival stuff all the way to the end.
2. The first movement of the Seventh is the greatest battle depiction ever. Nazis invading? Probably. Stalin’s threat to freedom and humanity? I sure ain’t convinced. But who cares. You could think of it as the Iraq war or the Peloponnesian war for all I care. It’s great symphonic writing: dynamic, taut, intense, masterfully constructed. You, know, its scheme isn’t all that far off the 1812 overture. Russian Hymn, Battle, and Apotheosis, although here you have to wait for the finale for the apotheosis.
3. Was it Stravinsky who said “music is the best means we have for digesting time.” or was it Auden? I’m pretty sure it couldn’t have been Stravinsky’s alter-Igor Robert Craft. Welcome to the Eleventh. It is the greatest long-range symphonic construction in time that we have. The seventh symphonies of Beethoven and Sibelius may come close, but here you have an uninterrupted hour of absolutely perfect pacing. The year 1905? The crushing of the Hungarian uprising in 1956? Whatever. How about a great symphony that will outlast associations with either.
John Gibbons
Here are the YouTube videos for the Shostakovich 4th. Unlike my usual practice, I can’t embed them directly here because they haven’t been made available that way. Click here to watch.
Watch Gergiev conducting the second movement of the 7th symphony here.
Watch Gergiev conducting the 11th symphony here.
David wondered why these are broken up. If I remember correctly, YouTube videos have a 10-minute limit.
—Bonnie Gibbons
Reader Comments (12)
The entire Shostakovich 4th conducted by no less than Valery Gergiev has been posted to youtube in 7 segments by "orangejamtw". The parts are titled Shostakovich's 4th Symphony - followed by the numbers 1 through 7. To see and hear the shattering coda select Shostakovich's 4th Symphony 6 , the coda starts at exactly 7:00 and continues to 9:38. You then have to click on Shostakovich's 4th Symphony 7, (which should be shown to the right to click on) and watch the final 4:54. The poster could have joined the last 2:38 of clip 6 to clip 7 and had the coda intact.
Youtube also has Gergiev in the 2nd and 4th movements of the Shostakovich 11 (each is split into 2 parts) and in the 2nd movement of the 7th (again 2 parts). My Holy Grail would be a DVD of the complete 7th.
Thanks. I'll ask Bonnie to put it up with the main body of the article so people can see it right away.
Dear John,
I love the Shos. symphony report, and look forward to this year's CSO performances.
The Philadelphia Sym. will be performing Schumann's *Paradise and Peri* the first weekend in December. This I learned thru checking the PSym schedule, since we will be in Philly the 2nd weekend of December. We'll miss the Schumann (darn!) but may be able to hear Helene Grimaud play Emperor Concerto the following weekend if tickets are available.
Have a fine Thanksgiving!
Fran(ces) Vandervoort
Jumpin' jinkers, Frances...hearing the Schumann would be a very big deal. You could've gloated about it. How many people have heard the piece live?
Shostakovich 11 is awful. There is no point to it. No interesting themes, No interesting harmonic movement or orchestration, all of the movements sound the same. It's quiet all of the time and that darn timpani solo throughout the first movement.....blaahhhh.
It's awful! Combine that with a youth orchestra and a conductor with no musicality or expressive ability like Colnot and you have one awful concert in Feb.
I think I will pass.
Dear Annon. Obviously I disagree, in fact,vehemently. I can agree that melodically and harmonically it's not great, but the powerful grasp of large-scale structure is impressive.
And I should clarify: the harmony is only uninteresting in the purely vertical element, not in the more important linear aspect. I should add that I've heard some very excellent concerts by the Civic, some of which were conducted by Mr.Colnot.
I have performed under Colnot and he is great at what he does. It's a pleassure to play for him. With that being said, I do kind of agree with Annon. about the Shostakovich 11th. I guess the piece is just over my head. Sometimes it's hard for me to turn off the performer and turn on the Academic. As a performer or concert attendee, I'm not a fan. As an Academic, I can see that the piece has greatness in it.
To each their own!
Hey Ry, I think you got me pegged wrong as an "academic" I find that analysis and pleasure go together. I don't think Shosty 11 is over your head; I just think you need to consider it as a total experience, rather then thinking of it passage by passage. I look forward to hearing you guys play it. If you get me tickets I'd be obliged. This time I won't be sick like I was on the day of Shosty 10. I hope!
Hey Ry, I think you got me pegged wrong as an "academic" I find that analysis and pleasure go together. I don't think Shosty 11 is over your head; I just think you need to consider it as a total experience, rather then thinking of it passage by passage. I look forward to hearing you guys play it. If you get me tickets I'd be obliged. This time I won't be sick like I was on the day of Shosty 10. I hope!
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