Symphony 9 - Shostakovich (1906-1975)

Allegro: Moderato: Presto: Largo: Allegretto

Shostakovich was never one to shy away from unpredictability. While other composers such as Beethoven, Mahler and Bruckner produced ninth symphonies of the utmost depth, Shostakovich, perhaps with this in mind, eschewed complexity and prolixity by writing his shortest and most lighthearted symphony. It was not only the general musical world that looked for a revelatory ninth from Shostakovich; the Russian establishment was stunned by this music; Stalin was incensed. What Stalin wanted was a celebratory work with chorus rejoicing in the great Soviet victory over Germany - a glorious "Russian Ninth."

The conductor Rudolf Barshai, a friend of Shostakovich, has recorded the complete symphonies which I would thoroughly recommend as a true testament to the composer. In an interview with Henny van der Groep at the One-day Shostakovich Event held in Doelen, Antwerp, Belgium on 21st April 2002, Barshai states, "You know that in the Ninth, Shostakovich mocked Stalin. It was also a work that relates to Stalin's anti-Semitism. Shostakovich himself was not Jewish, but he wrote this symphony in protest: a protest against anti-Semitism and not only against Stalin himself. In the Ninth, Shostakovich composed the final movement using a Jewish dance song [the main theme]. He used that theme in the coda. The tune is played on the tuba and the trombone, creating the effect that the stomping boots of the Red Army Ensemble are dancing to this Jewish melody - a particularly sarcastic melody at that. Of course it was only by chance that Stalin did not understand this. It was very dangerous thing to have done."

There have been some recent letters in a national newspaper on the merits of Shostakovich's music. Correspondent Kevin Hanson hits the nail firmly on the head. "Gerard McBurney's endorsement of Shostakovich ("In from the cold", January 14) as someone we should value primarily for his temporal closeness to us is curiously half-hearted, and presents little challenge to the composer's denigrators. I'm not surprised there are musical academics who claim to find his music empty. I expect they're alarmed at how unacademic it sounds, how full it is of what they regard as musical impurities. Of course, it's inappropriate to regard any music as no more than a political and/or personal statement, but to be shocked out of oneself or to be moved to tears (whether cosy or not) is to have responded to something that palpably exists in Shostakovich's arrangements of notes. Indeed, the audiences and musicians have turned to Shostakovich because his music engages them in ways that etiolated formalists, jaunty minimalists, timid neo-romantics and purveyors of perfumed religiosity don't. It may not please some formalist academics but the demonic energy, the mordant wit and grotesquerie, the unabashed anger and pathos that inform Shostakovich's greatest works are not only enjoyable to hear but are rightly coming to be considered essential elements in our modern art and history. Far from being empty or superficial, Shostakovich's music represents one of the truest voices of our age."

The five movements of Shostakovich's Ninth Symphony are easily assimilated: the first movement is full of lightness and humour: the second is a charming waltz with hesitations caused by irregular time changes: the third, an almost demonic scherzo, links directly to the fourth, a powerful brass statement contrasted with a plaintive bassoon solo. From here the bassoon leads off into the finale so well described above by Rudolf Barshai.

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