Josef Stalin died in March 1953; Shostakovich′s 10th Symphony was first performed in December of that year. The composer had been labouring under official (i.e. Stalin’s) censure for his ‘insanely sombre and neurotic’ music since 1948 … The audio file below deals with the final three movements of the work (remember to adjust the volume, […]
Tag Archives: 10th symphony
Dmitri Shostakovich’s musical signature (above and you can hear it (twice) in its sound file) dominates the latter half of his 10th Symphony and is a major component in several of his later works. But first things first: this week’s about concentrating on the musical architecture of the symphony’s big first movement, from which the […]
Mahler’s last works, the 9th and the unfinished 10th symphony, continue and extend the valedictory atmosphere of the Song of the Earth. The ninth opens with a cortège which alternates lamenting funereal march with a more impassioned music; it follows with a scherzo-like a mixture of ländler and Viennese and French waltzes; then comes a Rondo-Burleske, full […]
