An audible ripple of amusement coursed through Avery Fisher Hall tonight the first time a familiar trumpet motto from Rossini's William Tell overture, a.k.a. the theme from The Lone Ranger, was quoted in Shostakovich's Symphony No. 15. Most likely this suggested that many members of the audience -- perhaps lured in by the better-known work on the latter half of tonight's bill by Valery Gergiev and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the composer's Symphony No. 5 -- had never previously heard the composer's final statement in the genre. Shostakovich composed the work in 1971, just four years prior to his passing, and it certainly hasn't attained the status of standard repertoire. But it's just as likely that even those who knew the piece were still tickled at the inclusion of so peculiar a quotation, considering the source.
Given the examples of Beethoven and Mahler, it's tempting to look upon any composer's final symphony as some sort of grand statement of summation, the culmination of a life's work. Even bearing in mind that the aforementioned composers both at least started a tenth symphony, Shostakovich thwarts expectation in a few key ways. Including a bright opening and the repeated Rossini quotation, there's little in his opening movement that suggests valediction. The second movement presents more food for thought: somber brass chorales, one of which closes in a familiar "amen" cadence; poignant soliloquys for the principal cellist and bassist; a stormy climax. Still, that second movement contains its share of peculiar moments, including what must be among the very few passages in the symphonic repertoire for unaccompanied woodblock and vibraphone.
Yawning bassoons lead directly into a third-movement scherzo heralded by a hiccuping clarinet motif. And like the opening movement, the finale makes generous use of a repeated quotation; this time, it's the three-note "fate" theme from Wagner's Ring. A heartfelt melody; whispered confidences, a luminous horn solo; a dark massed climax; isolated passages for celeste (during which I expected another cell phone interruption, like yesterday), percussion and flute; and suddenly, we're back where we started, with the theme that opened the symphony. A mechanistic tick-tock in the percussion section brings the symphony to an unsettled close.
I'd long enjoyed Shostakovich's final symphony for its wealth of witty, creative notions, without ever having worried too much about what it might mean. Tonight's live encounter justified that admiration, but it certainly wasn't the place to look for the composer's parting statement. For that, one might instead turn to the composer's frankly devastating Sonata for Viola and Piano (an encounter with which, late last year, I described here.)
After the break came the Symphony No. 5, the money shot in the Shostakovich cycle. It's not hard to understand why this dramatic, concentrated piece continues to stand out among the composer's works. While it would be reckless to suggest that censure by the Soviet government, which compelled Shostakovich to stick his fourth symphony in a drawer, actually forced the composer to hone his skills -- and it might be equally valid to counter-suggest that a brilliant talent was cowed into conforming to some sort of orthodoxy -- it's still tough to deny that the Symphony No. 5 is the most carefully conceived and skillfully wrought of his early works.
Leaving aside the prodigious Symphony No. 1, a product of the composer's student years, Gergiev's Lincoln Center cycle has already demonstrated that the second, third and fourth symphonies are chock full of ideas; where the Symphony No. 5 most readily gains is in the taut discipline with which the composer constructed it. Call it recidivist or cautious if you like, but the fact remains that the composer's skills in traditional symphonic development -- in other words, taking a small idea and making a complete world of it, variable yet balanced -- were never better demonstrated before this piece. This was a feat undiminished by having been heralded in a Moscow newspaper as "a Soviet artist's creative response to just criticism."
My general impression of the Rotterdam Philharmonic's performance tonight was much the same as it had been on Sunday afternoon: less precise than those of the Kirov Orchestra, and lacking some small scintilla of the previous band's knifelike thrust, but providing a great deal to admire nonetheless. Principal woodwinds were exceptional, each and every one. Brass soloists were more secure than they were yesterday, while the section en masse was even more overwhelming. The percussion section had a field day with the intricate cogs and gears of the Symphony No. 15, and lent a potent drive to the Symphony No. 5. The earlier work was delivered exactingly; in the latter, Gergiev sacrificed a degree of precision in order to deliver an impetuous opening, as well as a conclusion steeped in Tchaikovskian pathos and power. His results drew as lusty a series of ovations as I've ever heard in this room.
(Valery Gergiev's Shostakovich symphony cycle resumes in October; details can be accessed from here.)
Playlist:
Felipe Lara - Corde Vocale; Tutti; Livro dos Sonhos; Concertino No. 1; Capriccio (MP3 downloads)
Judd Greenstein - Sonata for Cello and Piano; Today and Everyday; Prismaticism (MP3 downloads)
Dave Douglas Quintet - Meaning and Mystery (Greenleaf)
Martin Tétreault/Otomo Yoshihide - 4. HMMM (Ambiances Magnétiques)
Yes, indeed, the latest D. Douglas album might prove to be very interesting & promissing.
He, DD,just keeps innovating. It looks like a never ending story ,exploring new horizons.Bravo.
Posted by: bernard | April 11, 2006 at 02:14 PM