[2] Der Satz beginnt mit heftigen Akkordschlägen, worauf Schostakowitsch, so Kurt Sanderling, das Stalinthema von Ziffer 71, Takt 7 bis Ziffer 73, Takt 1 zunächst als Holzbläserquartett, dann als Quintett setzt. […] Scorch the hearts of the people with your tongue” – a warning for the audience – he is set on his way … to create. 8 (c-Moll) | Another imponderable: does this work require sandblasting Soviet brass to make its impact? ), Nr. [2] The work's popular success, as well as its earning him a Lenin Prize in April 1958, marked the composer's formal rehabilitation from the Zhdanov Doctrine of 1948. Not since Wagner has a composer’s reception history been so bitterly contested. For instance, a typically nervy, quick-fire realisation of the four-hand piano reduction played by the composer himself with Mieczysaw Weinberg dates from February 1954 (Monopole, A/07 – nla) and can be heard on YouTube. Shostakovich’s Tenth is an astounding achievement in symphonic form at a time when most western composers had abandoned the symphony. In the Tenth Symphony, the DSCH motif is most prominent in the 3rd movement, and in the Finale when in an fortissimo outburst it hammers out the maniacal Allegro.

Valery Gergiev, the most obvious wearer of the nationalist mantle, has a superior audio-visual account filmed in Paris with his own echt Russian band. Nonetheless, he is much better at the equivocal third movement than the numerous hi-tech aspirants following in his wake. While his fluttery semaphore elicits a more inspiring response than the traffic-cop antics of his senior colleague, the results seem cautious and legato alongside the incendiary, unblended stuff exported by the Communist state. This use of pseudo-folk material was a marked departure from his usual technique. Mstislav Rostropovich, a sceptic, and Kurt Sanderling, a believer, are both a little limp; Rudolf Barshai draws greater menace through tighter discipline. Karajan took this work to the Soviet Union in 1969 and a live Moscow recording survives. I see it as a witness of our humanity and cultural identity through the times. Of more recent advocates Mark Wigglesworth, a longstanding Shostakovich devotee whose vision of the work is among the bleakest, wrings exceptional results from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Nr. More deliberate in matters of pacing, Gennady Rozhdestvensky and Svetlanov himself are represented by excellent, albeit lo-fi concert relays. With this recording Inbal is embarking on a complete Shostakovich cycle, but he’s going to have to do better. Sketches for some of the material date from 1946, with most written in 1951 and the final form of the symphony completed between July and October 1953. '"[15] His widow Irina has also said that he had the Hungarian Revolution "in mind" during composition. 1 (f-Moll) | contains the text "The autumn night is ... black as the tyrant's conscience," while the final movement refers to a piece including the words "shame on you tyrants", mixing with it motifs borrowed, with ironic or possibly bitter intent, from Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre overture, during which Siegmund (later murdered) flees from his enemies through a forest.

Not for the squeamish. Gramophone is part of

International licensing, If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to. Of the initial cluster of mono releases, the best technically is Karel Ančerl’s, the product of studio sessions with the Czech Philharmonic in Munich’s Herkulessaal.

The symphony is scored for 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), 3 oboes (3rd doubling cor anglais), 3 clarinets (3rd doubling bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (3rd doubling contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, snare drum, cymbals, orchestral bass drum, tam-tam, xylophone, tubular bells, 2 harps (preferably doubled), celesta and strings. The Tenth is the most Mahlerian of the Shostakovich symphonies, opening with a grim, ominous Moderato movement that lasts nearly half an hour, followed by a bitter four-and-a-half minute Scherzo that is a musical portrait of the monstrous dictator.