The Breath of the Symphonist: Shostakovich's Tenth (Royal Musical Association Monographs, Vol 4) (Royal Musical Association Monographs, Vol 4)
David Fanning
Language: English
Pages: 90
ISBN: 0947854037
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
In 1946 Schoenberg wrote of Sibelius and Shostakovich, 'I feel they have the breath of symphonists.' This book poses the question of what exactly that 'breath' means in the context of Shostakovich's 10th Symphony (1953). Written shortly after Stalin's death, the work marks a turning point in the composer's output and in the history of Russian music, heralding the possibility of a new creative direction for Soviet artists. David Fanning's close analysis of the 10th sheds light on issues associated with the genre of the twentieth-century epic symphony, issues of structure and expression, unity and contrast. The book reveals how the work displays some of Shostakovich's most effective strategies for confronting these issues.
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technique well adapted to his purposes often involving a concentration of the first subject into rhetorical unison statements, modal brightening of the second subject, and recall of first subject fragments and/or introductory material in the coda - but nowhere does he match the control of long-range musical thought evident in the Tenth Symphony. The later stages of the recapitulation are a refashioning of exposition material designed to produce a balanced conclusion and to absorb the
time the 'song' theme B and the 'dance' theme C are now more closely associated - by the unity of instrµ mental timbre and by the fact that the return of theme B prepared for by the solo clarinet (and by the over-arching influence of section B on the whole span from the beginning of the development to this point) gives place to the first return of theme C. The consistency of tempo is another factor of the first importance. Just as at the beginning of the development the categorical distinction
(e.g. bars 186, 193, 279ff) . Hysteria assails the development at a much earlier stage than in V /1 (see bars 166ff), and the most terrifying aspect of the movement is the way Shostakovich finds some eight or nine progressive stages of intensification from this already screaming level of tension - extend ing both the crisis and hysteria phases o_f V/1 beyond all apparently feasible limits. Two of these progressive stages involve increases of tempo (bars 197, 231) but the great majority are
(fig. 129-3!7) Augmentation of theme A (compare the augmentation in the return of the scherzo in the second movement). The evened-out rhythm assimilates the theme even more closely to the DSCH of theme B which appears at fig. 130S. The three-bar macro-rhythm of cellos and basses assists forward propulsion. ii) (fig. 1317-32) Three-bar ostinato in bass remains and is shadowed in augmentation by x motif treble theme . Force of emphasis and trombone preparation (bars 352-3) finally shift the modal
theme) . 69 6 Conclusion: The La·nguage of Doublesp eak Some of the speakers at the Composers' Union criticised the finale of my Tenth Symphony for lacking dramatic completeness. I consider these comments absolutely justified. 1 The first extended commentary o n the Tenth Symphony set the tone for Russian assessments of the finale: 'In the finale, after the slow introduction with its conflicting confrontation of themes, a new set of images comes into being - colourful reminiscences of
