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Dmitri Shostakovich

Shostakovich Symphony No. 4 in C minor

A symphony that slept for 25 years after rehearsals

Key
C minor
Composed
1936
Premiere
1961 Moscow
Duration
About 62 min
Movements
3 movements
Instrumentation
Woodwinds 4·4·4·3 (+ 2 piccolos, E♭ clarinet, bass clarinet, contrabassoon; 4th oboe doubles English horn) · Brass 8·4·3·2 · Timpani (2 players) · Percussion (triangle, castanets, wood block, snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, tam-tam, glockenspiel, xylophone) · 2 harps · Keyboard (celesta) · Strings

The story behind this piece

In January 1936, Pravda, the Communist Party's newspaper, fiercely attacked Shostakovich's opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District as "muddle instead of music." That same year the Leningrad Philharmonic was preparing the premiere of Symphony No. 4 and even held rehearsals, but the December performance was canceled and the piece was withdrawn. The newspaper reported that the composer himself asked for it to be withdrawn, but it is said that there was actually pressure from the authorities.

The piece premiered only on December 30, 1961, after Stalin's death, in Moscow under Kirill Kondrashin. It needs the largest forces of any Shostakovich symphony (over 100 players), and the influence of Mahler, whom he studied deeply, is strong.

What to listen for

  • The grand first movement: Listen for the most extreme sounds a huge orchestra can make. As in Mahler, tragedy and "cheap"-sounding tunes are mixed together.

Listen · Score

Credits