Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4 (symphony in 3 movements)

Dmitri Shostakovich: Russian composer, 12.91906 — 9.8 1975
Symphony No 4: symphony in 3 movements, published in 1961

The fourth symphony has been said to be the most tragic of  Dmitri Shostakovich's works. True or not, his life certainly reached a tragic period during the composition of this work. In the beginning of year 1936 Pravda published an article 'Chaos Instead of Music', that was directly targeted against Shostakovich and his opera 'Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District'. The article was Joseph Stalin's direct order and at that time in Soviet Union such an attack could mean prison or death to anyone. The events are well and excitingly documented in Shostakovich's memoirs (which, by the way, I believe to be true and precise, although other opinions have been stated) and you can read about the details also in wikipedia. The result however was that the composer stopped the rehearsing of the symphony, and it was premier took place much later,  as late as 1961.

Start of the fugue in the 1st movement

After one time listening: Shostakovich's 4th symphony is certainly a great work, but compared to his ultimate masterpieces, the means of expression sound a bit rough or unpolished to me. The composer really pushes the orchestration and harmonic manners to their limits. Lots of dynamical and instrumental confrontations, huge harmonic clusters, obtrusive melody lines and gloomy atmosphere. The fugue somewhere around the middle of the first movement sounds like one, big, f****ing, wasp nest and it is quite a mind blower. It starts with only first violin playing, grows from there to full orchestra and is probably very difficult for the players, especially for the bows.

But my personal opinion is that in his later works Shostakovich's composing technique still sharpened and matured. The 11th symphony, for example, is (much) more balanced in form, orchestration, harmony and personal style. The Mahler-like harmonic changes in 4th symphony seem a bit disconnected from composer's original voice (to me)  and  one rhythmic percussion passage sounds even ridiculous (again: to me). There were also passages that gave me an association of Prokofjev's 'Peter and the Wolf' (this was composed the same year as Shostakovich's 4th was finished) and Dvorak's Symphony No 9 (From the New World).

The 4th symphony feels like a work of a brilliant student that uses all tricks he knows to shock and amaze the audience the best he can. And as such,  the work is one the composer's finest, at least that I've listened to. All the Shostakovich known manners are of course represented: needle sharp orchestration, clattering of snare drum and dactyl/counterdactyl based rhythm/melody (you can't separate one from the other). As anybody with little knowledge of music knows, the rhythmic expression of Shostakovich starts to bore the listener sooner or later, in a same way as cadence-based harmony/melody (again: you can't really separate one from the other) of viennese classic period does after too much listening.

Having said all that, I think that 4th symphony is one of Shostakovich's finest works, just not of the extreme top. But Shostakovich is such a genius as a composer, that I am little ashamed of all the criticism that I have stated here. I feel like a monkey trying to criticize a clock. But, then again, you don't need to be a cow, for being able to evaluate the taste of milk, right?

Blocker's Verdict: 4/5

Word of the day: obtrusive = Sticking out; protruding. Noticeable; prominent, especially in a displeasing way.