Shostakovich symphony no 5 program notes

This movement picks up the march music—the manner, not the specific material—that formed the climax of the first movement. But the purpose now is to express not threat and tension but triumph. I saw man with all his experiences as the center of the composition. In the finale the tragically tense impulses of the earlier movements are resolved in optimism and the joy of living. Rabinovich notes that the accompaniment, first in the violins, then in the harp, for the cello-and-bass recollection of the first movement is a quotation from a Shostakovich song of It works just as it was intended to work, though many a listener may find that the impact and the memory of the questions behind this music are stronger than those of the answer.

Many pages of my music are devoted to it. But then I thought better of it. I think it is clear to everyone what happens in the Fifth. The rejoicing is forced, created under threat, as in Boris Godunov. You have to be a complete oaf not to hear that. We are privileged to continue publishing his program notes. Program Notes. Shostakovich: Symphony No. He was a student during the early years of the Soviet regime, and like all artists in that country enjoyed the relative indifference towards the arts by early communism.

Stylistic prescriptions and proscriptions lay in the future, and he studied the music of an array of traditional and modern composers. He was broadly educated, and free to pursue his artistic interest unfettered. He was generally supportive of the communist regime, and saw no reason to think otherwise.

In all, Shostakovich wrote fifteen symphonies, and his very first one, written upon the occasion of his graduation from conservatory at the age of nineteen was an immediate and acclaimed success.

Too advanced and modern, the critics said, and that pretty much went for the third one, as well. In the meantime he had been working on a satirical opera and Shostakovich was perhaps the greatest master of satire in the classical canon , the Nose. It was at first a success, but he was treading on thin ice with this violent, lurid story of adultery and murder set to loud, dissonant music.

As the world knows, during the late twenties and early thirties, life in the Soviet Union evolved into something much more sinister and challenging. As Stalin gradually clamped down on every aspect of everyday life, the arts became progressively a tool for social and political indoctrination. Accepted musical style needed to be largely traditional, pleasant, and accessible to the masses. It is said with fair accuracy that hardly any family went without tragedy. He was not pleased, to say the least.

Given the ease with which dozens of artists had already disappeared, never to be seen again, or openly executed, the life of Shostakovich and his music both literally became precarious. He even contemplated suicide, and camped on the landing outside his apartment to ease his arrest without disturbing his family when the secret police came for him. Taking a lower profile was the wise course—even some of his friends who defended him were shot.

But, he continued to work on this fourth symphony, his symphonic style now and thereon distinctly influenced by that of Gustav Mahler. The Symphony No. He did, and that was the end of the work for another twenty-five years.

And all of this leads to the Symphony No. There are few major musical compositions in all the repertoire that so profoundly speak, not only to the question of independence, integrity, and honesty of the artist himself, but also to the fundamentals of life, death, freedom, and sufferings of peoples. The first movement opens with a jagged up-and-down motive, followed by a little, hesitating stepwise descent.

She recently earned a Ph. In January , da Ponte premiered Ad aeternum, an electroacoustic work for eight-channel tape, exploring the traditional songs and ritual chants of her birthplace, the Azores. In the end, it is an homage to the Atlantic Ocean surrounding the wonderful Azorean archipelago. When we two walk together, hand in hand, And pluck the lilies growing by the mill.

Or, from the treeless summit, view the strand And watch the evening clouds that slowly fill The far horizon, forming at their will Fantastic ruins of a sunken land:. How suddenly, at times, you cease to speak, Your fingers quiver, colour leaves your cheek. And in your eyes a fire unwonted darts!