Symphony No.15 in A major - Dmitri Shostakovich

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vasily Petrenko. I - Allegretto (𝅘𝅥 = 120): 0:00 II - Adagio (𝅘𝅥 = 108) - Largo (𝅘𝅥 = 69) - Adagio (𝅘𝅥 = 108) - Largo (𝅘𝅥 = 69) - (attacca): 8:02 III - Allegretto (𝅗𝅥 = 112): 25:23 IV - Adagio (𝅘𝅥 = 80) - Allegretto (𝅘𝅥 = 100) - Adagio (𝅘𝅥 = 80) - Allegretto (𝅘𝅥 = 100): 29:15 Shostakovich's Symphony No.15 was composed between June and July 1971, conceived as a cheerful gift for his sixty-fifth birthday. It was premiered on January 8 of 1972, performed by the All-Union Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maxim Shostakovich. It was very well-received in the Soviet Union. After a series of two programmatic symphonies (11 & 12) and other two vocal ones (13 & 14), with the fifth the composer returned to the purely instrumental music with a much different perspective and take on the genre. Shostakovich's extensive use of musical quotation in the piece has attracted wide speculation. He initially likened the first movement to a "toyshop", but later cautioned listeners against taking his description too precisely. Quotations of Rossini, Glinka, Beethoven, Wagner, Mahler and even the composer's own previous works permeate through the entire work, making it one of the most autobiographical symphonic works along his tenth symphony. The composer was also suffered poliomyelitis and had a heart attack a few months before the premiere. Writting the score was also painful as his right arm was severely hampered. The first movement opens with two chimes on the glockenspiel, then over pizzicato strings solo flute unfolds a capricious theme which is continued by bassoon as the music gains in animation. What amounts to a second theme is stated matter-of-factly by trumpet and passed to other wind and brass, then trumpets sound the galop theme from Rossini’s William Tell Overture that alternates with scurrying strings as the end of the exposition is reached. The development now sets off with trumpet fanfares over side drum, percussion coming to the fore as activity increases heading into a strenuous string fugato derived from the first theme. This is curtailed by bass drum and, after an allusion to the second theme on solo violin, strings initiate a fugal texture of mounting complexity with all twelve notes of the chromatic scale gradually brought into play. Trumpets and side drum emerge at its height, inducing a climactic reprise of the main theme which dies down menacingly in the brass, after which further soloistic comments and a return of the William Tell motif on trumpets herald a restatement of the first theme with its successor transformed into a circus-like parade across the orchestra. This heads into the coda with a brief polyphonic build-up on woodwind and last Rossini allusion before the curt final phrase. The second movement opens with a baleful chorale for brass, followed by an eloquent cello soliloquy against rapt strings. Both chorale and soliloquy are repeated to heightened effect, before a variant of the chorale sees the cello merge into a sequence of dissonant twelve-note chords on woodwind and brass. These lead first into a chant-like motif on flutes then a funereal trombone monologue which alternates with the chant motif, both being repeated and intensified before the return of the solo cello and the dissonant chords. There then erupts a massive climax based on the trombone monologue, with the whole orchestra brought into play for the only time in this movement. Dying down on the lower brass and timpani, it makes way (via the chant and chordal ideas) to a restatement of the chorale in block harmony on strings. A haunting passage featuring celesta and strings leads to the chorale variant on strings then brass, thence to the spectral final bars on brass and timpani.A transition dominated by the DSCH motive leads us into the next part. The third movement begins with portentous chords on bassoons, preparing for a sardonic theme on clarinets then solo violin whose barbed humour belies its formal and motivic poise. This is taken up animatedly by strings and woodwind before a trio section launches on brass and percussion, also taking in a stealthy theme for violin then woodwind with lively percussion asides. The latter comes to the fore in a transition that hints at without stating the first theme, which re-emerges just prior to the close when solo violin quizzically recalls it and the second theme prior to a nonchalant exchange for percussion and strings. [Musical analysis continued in the comments section]. Picture: "Portrait of Shostakovich" (1976) by the Azerbaijani painter Tahir Salahov. Source: https://tinyurl.com/2yallk6p To check the score: https://tinyurl.com/yl37xuwc