Dmitri Shostakovich - Symphony No. 9 [With score] (Reupload)

-Composer: Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (25 September 1906 – 9 August 1975)
-Orchestra: WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne [WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln]
-Conductor: Rudolf Borisovich Barshai

Symphony No. 9 in E-flat Major, op. 70, written in 1945

00:10 - I. Allegro
05:26 - II. Moderato
11:08 - III. Presto
14:03 - IV. Largo
17:10 - V. Allegretto

Shostakovich composed this work for Schumann-sized orchestra plus percussion in the summer of 1945, and Yevgeny Mravinsky led the first performance at Leningrad on November 3 of that year. Given the size of Shostakovich's war-haunted seventh and eighth symphonies, Joseph Stalin expected a Ninth in 1945 that "out-Mahlered Beethoven," in the late Boris Schwarz's phrase. In Testimony, Solomon Volkov recalled the composer's saying, "They wanted a fanfare from me, an ode, a majestic Ninth....I doubt that Stalin ever questioned his own genius or greatness. But when the war against Hitler was won, he went off the deep end, like a frog puffing himself up to the size of an ox, and now I was supposed to write an apotheosis of Stalin. I simply could not....My stubbornness cost me dearly."

Volkov called the Ninth a work "full of sarcasm and bitterness." Disguised as an homage to Haydn, it was Shostakovich's shortest symphony since the Second of 1927, despite having five movements (the last three are played without pause). In an effort to shield Shostakovich from political fallout, conductor Mravinsky called the new symphony "a joyous sigh of relief...a work directed against philistinism, which ridicules complacency and bombast, the desire to rest on one's laurels." Putting on a good face, the Soviet hierarchy echoed Mravinsky, but only temporarily.

By and large, Western critics dismissed the work as trivial. However, in his 1990 book The New Shostakovich, Ian MacDonald asserted that "only a dunce could have failed to realize the composer was up to something," pointing out the code-bearing nature of recurring notes and rhythms. A "Stalin motif" is frighteningly present -- always two notes, one usually short, one long -- from its raucous first appearance, without musical point, in the double-exposition of a giddy Allegro movement. The opening "mimic[s] the ordinary citizen's carefree relief at the victorious conclusion of the war. [But] the second subject -- a crude quick-march, led by a two-note, tonic-dominant trombone -- is clearly symbolic of the Vozhd [Stalin]." MacDonald hears "fights breaking out [and] for a hectic moment the music continues in two keys until the trombone wrests control," whereupon strings capitulate "and the reprise ends on sneering trills, the quick-march in control."

A Moderato movement follows, with a B minor main subject for clarinet that is "wan, sad-faced, with a telltale two-note pendant," and "a heel-dragging" second one: "a chain of two-note cells [that] subtly mock conventional grief." Horns "warn off [the] real feeling" that breaks through briefly, whereupon "happy-face clowns [usher in] a cheery scherzo...another street party [as in the first movement] that goes violently wrong."

Menacing brass octaves begin the fourth movement; then a bassoon recitative sends mixed signals, "another mask" that leaves the strings uneasy. The Allegretto finale "erupts into action....A dark whirlwind drives the movement to a climax of teetering expectation -- but all that emerges is the clownish main theme, hammered out by the entire orchestra. Shostakovich's contempt is scalding. Here are your leaders, the music jeers: circus clowns. Point made, [he] summons a helter-skelter coda and slams [the Ninth] shut."

For MacDonald it is "an open gesture of dissent [that] ruthlessly targeted Stalinism....Wagnerisms, the most prominent being an allusion to Wotan's Leitmotif in the fourth movement, are probable expressions of the view, outlined in Testimony, of Stalin and Hitler as 'spiritual relatives.'" Shostakovich paid dearly indeed for the snub; he was damned in 1948 as a "formalist" and blacklisted, leaving him only movie scores for income. After Stalin's death in 1953 he finished a Tenth Symphony, in whose scherzo the Vozhd himself makes one last, unforgettably terrifying appearance.

[perplexingpantheon]

This is the most passive aggressive piece known to man

[PosauneundPapier]

POV: You're a trombone player and you have to play this for Stalin. A couple days later you go missing

[e.hutchence-composer]

Whenever you see a 9th Symphony which is shorter than 30 minutes, you know something is up...

[techyn]

If you don't understand the humor, imagine this being played over a military parade as intended.

[natekite]

Listening to this piece out of context it's weird...

With a little bit of exposition it's hilarious!

[BetonBrutContemporary]

Shosty writing 9th symphony: Im gonna die soon i can feel it

Death:(Takes Stalin instead)

[MatanVngsh]

22:03 you're not a clown. you're the entire circus.

[davidgustavsson]

In chess there's a tactic known as the desperado, where you know a piece is about to be lost anyway so you use its last move to get as big of a punch in as you can.

Shosty's 9 sounds like a desperado.

[ArianSadrayi]

At 12:14 Dimitri introduces his spanish cousin: "There he is now, There he is now, There he is now, There he comes now."
And at 12:20 we see that he fights untamed bulls for a living.
I just adore Shostakovich's humor.

[jeroenl]

Because of Tantacrul Shostakovich is now one of my favorite composers!

[Goethefilms]

This is how you properly "stick it to the man"

[wYeL]

LMFAO that trombone always gets me. GG Shosty

[kerbonaut]

'You're not a clown, you're the entire circus' - the piece

[magnumpineapple]

The humor of the piece is undeniable, but movement four is one of the most soul-crushing, desolate, and depressing things I have ever heard. Almost as if one is listening to someone die.

[nathanlobdell]

I know this symphony is supposed to be a joke, but this might be one of my favorites

[teleportingman]

Saw this piece performed live and I shit you not, I couldn't stop laughing my ass off. I had to bite down on my tongue really hard throughout the 1st movement to refrain myself from causing any attention... greatest concert experience E V E R!

[arifakyuz]

This piece is basically classical music comedy (The Soviets being the subject)

[Skvertven]

Bassoon solos are extraordinary played. The voice of Schostakovitch in most his symphonies.

[Meyour]

4:00 this is so funny LMAO the madlad was such a troll

[tomvesely]

0:25 this is what I call the 'water inside your army shoes motive' it just sounds like wet socks splashing about in shoes. The basoon + clarinet. I would love to hear a piece based on this excerpt, add brass with harmon mutes in the 2 and 4 on top of that.