Shostakovich: Presto from Symphony No.6, for Two Pianos (MIDIJam)

pf: MIDIJam
Arranged by tomekkobialka

This video is dedicated to all pianists who do not read sheet music.

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The Sixth Symphony was originally said to be a large-scale "Lenin Symphony" - a project which was often announced, but never materialised. Shostakovich had announced once in September 1938 that he was anxious to work on his Sixth Symphony, which would be a monumental composition for soloists, chorus and orchestra employing the poem Vladimir Ilyich Lenin by Vladimir Mayakovsky, but the declamatory nature of the poem made it difficult to set. He later tried to incorporate other literature about Lenin in his new symphony, but without success. In January 1939, he spoke about the Sixth Symphony in a radio address, with no mention of Lenin or any extramusical associations.

The purely instrumental Symphony No. 6 was completed in September 1939. Shostakovich commented on it in the press:

The musical character of the Sixth Symphony will differ from the mood and emotional tone of the Fifth Symphony, in which moments of tragedy and tension were characteristic. In my latest symphony, music of a contemplative and lyrical order predominates. I wanted to convey in it the moods of spring, joy, youth.

On 21 November 1939, exactly two years after the premiere of the Symphony No. 5, the premiere of the Symphony No. 6 took place in the Large Hall of the Leningrad Philharmonic in Leningrad by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under Yevgeny Mravinsky—the same location and performers. In the same programme was the Romantic Poem for violin and orchestra of Zhelobinsky.[6] The symphony had a successful premiere, and the finale was encored. However, although a local critic lauded Shostakovich for further freeing himself from formalistic tendencies in his new symphony, the work was later criticised for its ungainly structure and the jarring juxtaposition of moods. The fact that the symphony was performed during a 10-day festival of Soviet music which included patriotic works by Prokofiev (excerpts from Alexander Nevsky) and Shaporin (On the Field of Kulikovo) probably did not help.

The first recording was made by Leopold Stokowski with the Philadelphia Orchestra for RCA Victor in December 1940.
(SOURCE: Wikipedia)

NOTE: Here's a relevant quote from Elizabeth Wilson's book "Shostakovich: A Life Remembered":

"Long before the premiere Dmitri Dmitriyevich showed the Symphony to Ivan Sollertinsky and me [Isaak Glikman]. He played the Finale through twice, and, against his custom, praised it himself: 'It's the first time I ever wrote such a successful Finale. I think even the most fastidious critics won't have anything to pick at.' He said nothing about the first and second movements. But we spoke enthusiastically of the majestic beauty of the first movement, the Largo, the brilliance of the Scherzo and the overwhelming and intoxicating Finale. I immediately fell in love with it, and, with little regard for the composer's self-effacing modesty, I enthusiastically expounded, 'If Mozart and Rossini had lived in the twentieth century, and had collaborated in writing the finale of a symphony, it would have turned out like this . . . .'

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Kondrashin conducting the Presto: https://youtu.be/zPL1U_cKlt0?t=1177

MIDIJam is perhaps a little past its heyday, nevertheless you can still check it out here: http://www.gamesbyscott.com/midijam.htm

Видео Shostakovich: Presto from Symphony No.6, for Two Pianos (MIDIJam) канала tomekkobialka