# DSCH: The Definitive Tenth



## tahnak (Jan 19, 2009)

Shostakovich wrote his tenth symphony in 1953. This was the year Stalin died. The work is in E Minor. The personal statement dimension is confirmed by Shostakovich's use of the initials DSCH (D, E Flat, C, B Natural in German notation) in the Allegretto movement. Robert Layton has written in the GRAMOPHONE, "few works give a deeper insight into the interior landscape of the Russian soul." 
The first movement's tragic brooding and the third movement's melancholy define the symphony's mood. Against this mood, the whirlwind scherzo is set. The finale is a sprinting dash. An end to this symphony caused a critic to dub the symphony 'an optimistic tragedy.' The Allegro is a tribute to Stalin. Brutally, the music suggests banality of evil.
Karajan's reading with the Berliners is a great one, for me the definitive.He first conducted this symphony in Berlin in March 1959. In November 1966, he made his first recording of it. The Moscow performance which followed that in May 1969 was a sensation. Solomon Volkov, who wrote 'Testimony: The Memoirs of Shostakovich' says that the concert was a siege; tickets were impossible to get. Police, mounted and on foot, surrounded the theatre. Mariss Jansons was in the audience there and he recalled, "The Berlin Philharmonic played at 200 per cent. It was an unbelievable occasion." Shostakovich was also in the audience. He was so moved that he joined Karajan and the orchestra on stage after the performance.
The 1981 recording of the symphony came at a special time. In the wake of serious illness in 1976, Karajan returned to music with renewed intensity and Berlin, which he had guided for over a quarter of a century, was at the very peak of its powers. The performance as per Karajan was to some extent to share the idea of a struggle to survive in a world beset by menace. In the Allegro section of the finale, Shostakovich's incredibly quick metronome mark was now taken literally, something few orchestras could contemplate, let alone manage. Already in his 1966 recording, Karajan had shown that he had the measure of this symphony.
In the first movement, he gives an atmosphere described as unremitting and in the finale, the Berliners leave no doubt as to their virtuosity. The Berlin Philharmonic is beyond compare when it attacks the Allegro and the horn solo which introduces the Allegretto is hot. Karajan takes the climaxes more relentlessly than any other conductor. His account has the greatest impact. Karajan once told that he would have liked to be Dmitri Shostakovich had he been a composer.


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## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

It's nice to see the attention on musical motifs. The DSCH motif is one I only came to realise through reading about Shostakovich, before hearing his first cello and violins concertos and most importantly - the famous string quartet No. VIII in C minor from his epic string cycle). 

On one hand, the motif itself isn't particularly meaningful to me when applied to a solitary piece; it unravels more insights across a composer's broader works. Unfortunately I'm just not that kind of listener who picks up everything by a favourite composer and discovers the motifs throughout. 

Bach's own eponymous motif served the same purpose; I guess this is where Shostakovich derived the idea from. Of course, his motif, is not as elegant nor as beautiful as Bach; thankfully his music more than compensates for this. At least D.Sch. was blessed with having a name which afforded a tangible motif. Unlike Ustolvokalaya or Gubaidalina, Noskowski or Szymanowski. 

Of D.SCH's motifs, the string quartet no. VIII has been best captured in his elegiac dimension by the Taneyev Quartet, whose emotional phrasing is just utterly sublime. The Borodin Quartet recordings do great justice to this marvellous piece of work, as does the St Petersburg Quartet. Anything over the sterile perfection of the American Emersons. The newer kids on the block, like the St Petersburg Quartet have an exceptionally deft yet rich hand in crafting the fast movement into a maelstrom of emotional intensity, and similarly, their counterparts, the Danel Quatuor, have their own 'modern' interpretation along the Borodin's lines of this music. The Sorrel and the Jerusalem Quartet are also modern interpreters who have their own strengths, although of the bunch, the Taneyev's version stands out as the starkest and most emotionally compelling version I've ever heard. Even the Beethoven Quartet struggle to convey such emotional destitution with the ferocity of the Taneyev's...although that could be their older/vintage recording quality...


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## tahnak (Jan 19, 2009)

I haven't heard the eighth quartet. I shall do that. Thanks for guiding me there.


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## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

The string quartet no. VIII is probably the most widely read from Shostakovich' string cycle. Rhythmically, it is very distinctive (very "soviet") in character. There are plenty of competent readings out there. The ones I would *definitely* avoid are the Brodsky Quartet's version. I've never heard anything as dire as their version: the four string parts all play in isolation and lack coherence. Shostakovich might have used dissonance, however never in the sheer disorganisation conveyed by the Brodsky Quartet. Incidentally, the Brodsky Quartet are very good at some things. 

His cello and violin concertos with the same DSCH motif are very engaging work too. It brings out the character of the instruments so well. Don't pass these works up either!


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I don't know whether anything can be described as "definitive," but I too have a soft spot for this symphony. The first movement alone can be described as a kind of symphony in itself. The second movement speaks to me of terror and a world in chaos. After the first two brilliant movements, I find the last two a bit of a let down (anti-climax?). Maybe he was using Mahler's sense of irony and sarcasm (the upbeat finale is saying something like 'ding-dong the witch is dead!'). In any case, I much prefer this & his 4th symphony to the propagandistic stuff (Nos. 5 & 7 especially). & I agree, the _String Quartet No. 8_ is also a masterpiece, dedicated to the victims of Facsism and war (composed following a trip to Dresden, and also after Shostakovich had joined the Communist Party, which he saw as a kind of moral & spiritual death). He wasn't one to write light music, that's for sure...


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## Frasier (Mar 10, 2007)

The recording that I'd recommend as closest to the elusive "definitive" is Karajan's with the Berliner. The Scherzo is particularly biting, contrasting wonderfully with the Allegretto. The Allegro at the end of the last movement is almost a catharsis, an ecstatic end to the work, if you like. A very clean, clear recording.
Timings: 22'30" - 4'09" - 11'38" - 13'03"


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## Earthling (May 21, 2010)

Andre said:


> (the upbeat finale is saying something like 'ding-dong the witch is dead!')


LOL This is precisely what I hear in the finale (I've used the exact wording in the past, in fact). There's also the little dotted fifths motive and the bassoon steps out of line occasionally which is funny. I don't think of the finale as a letdown though, but more of a sigh of relief of simply surviving Stalin (and hence that massive D!S!C!H!!!!!!! which feels like the biggest F- you ever given). To be honest, I don't know how he got away with this symphony...

Karajan's recording first turned me on to the tenth. I personally like Jarvi's recording on Chandos. But I need to listen to Karajan's recording again-- its been too long.

Of all the recordings I've gone through of the eighth quartet (many of them), the Borodin Quartet's recording is my favourite. The desolation of those final fifths with that rising and falling semi-tone at the end is devestating-- they linger quite a bit on it which works so well I think. It would be interesting to listen to this after watching Tarkovsky's film *Ivan's Childhood*.

There is also a string orchestra version of the eighth-- the *Chamber Symphony*, but I prefer the original quartet version (IIRC, I don't think Shostakovich wrote this string arrangement himself).


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## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

Lol.

Earth calling Earthling! That's exactly what the post by Ephemerid wrote about 3 years ago:

http://www.talkclassical.com/21-fav-quartet-4.html


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Karajan - DG Galleria/ADD 22:07 4:12 11:22 13:42

Karajan - DG Originals/DDD 22:35 4:16 11:44 13:08


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