Dmitri Shostakovich - Symphony No. 10 in E Minor

 Shostakovich's 10th Symphony is as spectacular and significant as his 5th. He wrote the 5th to save his life, but the 10th was written in 1953, just a few months after Stalin's death, and hence the symphony is in a tone of cautious relief and enjoyment. (As an aside, this composition timeline is according to Shostakovich, but various sources do indicate the symphony being written in 1951.) It was premiered in Moscow in December 1953 by Mravinsky. This symphony is nothing less than the confrontation between the artist and the hated dictator. 

1st Movement - Taking around 28 minutes to be performed, this is almost half as long as the entire symphony! The movement is in sonata form and has parts A,B, and A, where A is the exposition, and B is the development. The exposition has three main themes. The opening of the symphony employs the typical Russian strategy of playing a slow, meditative melody on the cello and strings. This is the 1st theme, and it imitates a choir singing hymns at a liturgy. The melody is almost like a prayer, representing the composer's spirit and marking the start of the spiritual journey. The second theme is introduced by the solo clarinet over the prayer-like strings, evoking a song that represents the composer's voice. Post the climax, the clarinet is invited again by the trombones and the horns. The third theme is then ushered in by the flute with a rhythmic two-note motif, accompanied by plucked strings in the background. This is like a waltz, and represents the body of the composer! Hence, the A section is quiet and thoughtful, representing the artist's cautious existence under the Soviet regime. The B section is the development, which starts with the contrabassoon, bassoon, and clarinet conversing in hushed tones, as if cautious about whether they can fully express themselves or not. But then the oboe confidently steps in and gathers momentum, followed by the snares and timpani pounding out terror as Stalin's symbol. This climax then dies and leads to A section ushered in by the solo clarinet, followed by 2 clarinets playing the dance waltz theme. The movement ends with 2 piccolos and pizzicato in the strings. It conveys a sense of hollow exhaustion, where the spirit and body are sapped of energy. 

2nd Movement - This is marked Allegro and features a loud and short scherzo (A scherzo is a short composition played in a larger symphony or a sonata. One particular scherzo I like is from Lessel's Piano concerto in C Major). The movement is an unstoppable forward-moving one, which is intended as Stalin's portrait as an aggressive, brutal and vicious dictator. The movement describes the end of Stalin, and the subsequent two movements are reactions to his death. 

3rd Movement - In Allegro tempo, this movement is about the slow emergence of Soviets and Shostakovich from the dark shadows of Stalin. The unique part of the movement is that it features a short melodic motif called DSCH, played by the notes D, E flat, C and B, which is actually Shostakovich's musical signature! This can be seen in the German spelling of his name, Dmitri Schostakovich, where D-Es-C-Ha stand for the notes. (The motif signature technique was also used by Bach in his fugues and even the Brandenburg Concertos! His motif was simply composed of notes B-flat, A, C, B, thus spelling out BACH in German musical notation.) Now, at the beginning of the movement, the motif is intentionally misspelt as C, D, E flat, B to hide and not reveal himself early on. The flute then boldly introduces the signature, but the strings continue to misspell it until the Horn melody rises as a contrasting episode. The melody also serves as a memorial to those who didn't survive the harsh regime of Stalin, and musicologists have said that it is similar to the horn melody in the 3rd movement of Mahler's 5th Symphony, where he uses it to ritualise the memorial of death. Continuing ahead, the movement's quietness is shattered by drums, and now Shostakovich is courageous, and so his musical signature responds to the drums. Near the end, the solo violin hesitantly attempts to misspell the DSCH theme, but the movement concludes with flutes and piccolos correctly singing the signature, accompanied by plucked strings in the background. 

4th Movement - This movement sounds vague and lacks form, as it is almost autobiographical. It begins with a slow Andante introduction section of the funeral-like melody in low strings, when the solo clarinet and flute start calling to each other. They continue this twice, and then, the third time, the clarinet takes off to a joyous and enchanting melody that keeps building until a dark panic suddenly envelops the theme, which represents Stalin's intrusion. But how come Stalin is intruding when he is already dead? The answer is that the panic represents the memory of a horror from which everyone is still reeling, hence it is shadowing everyone. However, in a beautiful metaphor, Shostakovich's DCSH motif is a ray of sunshine that dispels Stalin's darkness, and the movement ends in hysteria, with the DCSH theme blaring in the brass sections!