Sjostakovitj - Rachmaninov

Throughout his life as a composer, Dmitri Shostakovich was forced to walk a tightrope between remaining true to himself and being tolerated by the Soviet cultural bureaucracy. His music often has multiple layers, allowing it to be interpreted at times as pro-Soviet and at others as critical of the regime.

Which is which is not always easy to determine, and he often expressed himself ambiguously about his intentions. When he wrote his Fifteenth Symphony in 1970–1971, he likely knew it would be his last. Perhaps that is why it is charged with such mysticism?

Enigmatic quotations

What contributes most to the sense of mystery are the quotations he scatters throughout the work. In the first movement, for example, the overture to Rossini’s William Tell is quoted several times, creating an off-kilter and humorous tension. The final movement opens with the dark fate motif from Wagner’s Ring Cycle, and in some places one can hear the opening notes of Tristan and Isolde.

But the symphony’s mystical high point is the slow second movement. It begins with soft, jazzy brass chords that recur like a red thread. These alternate with a series of solos that tentatively make their way across the sparse musical texture—first on cello, then on flute, trombone, and trumpet. Toward the end comes a ghostly, shimmering vibraphone solo.

An “unplayable” piece

At the opposite end of the temperamental spectrum is Sergei Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3—one of the most notorious works in the classical repertoire. Words such as “invincible” and “unplayable” frequently appear in descriptions of the piece. In the film Shine (1996), the concerto triggers a psychotic breakdown in the Australian pianist David Helfgott when he performs it during a solo competition in London in 1966.

These are of course exaggerations, but they speak to the work’s complexity and technical challenges. Rachmaninov was one of the foremost pianists of the early twentieth century and wrote the concerto based on his own abilities. He also had enormous hands—so it is no wonder that the piece places great demands on the soloist.

The second movement begins with an orchestral passage lasting more than two minutes, giving the pianist a chance to recover after the long and highly demanding first movement.

In the finale the frenzy, the powerful chords, and virtuosic runs return, and the concerto ends in a gleaming golden triumph.