Symphony IX (Shostakovich)

From Wind Repertory Project
Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Shostakovich (trans. William A. Schaefer)


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General Info

Year: 1945 / 1976
Duration: c. 26:00
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: MCA
Cost: Score and Parts – Out of print


Movements

1. Allegro
4. Largo
5. Allegretto – Allegro


Instrumentation

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Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Symphony No. 9 in E-flat major, Op. 70, was composed by Dmitri Shostakovich in 1945. It was premiered on 3 November 1945 in Leningrad by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under Yevgeny Mravinsky.

The ninth symphony was originally intended to be a celebration of the Russian victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. The composer declared in October 1943 that the symphony would be a large composition for orchestra, soloists and chorus "about the greatness of the Russian people, about our Red Army liberating our native land from the enemy".

The symphony turned out to be a completely different work from the one he had originally planned, with neither soloists nor chorus and a much lighter mood. He forewarned listeners, "In character, the Ninth Symphony differs sharply from my preceding symphonies, the Seventh and the Eighth. If the Seventh and the Eighth symphonies bore a tragic-heroic character, then in the Ninth a transparent, pellucid, and bright mood predominates." The symphony is a playful and vivid musical work, with a neoclassical air that has led to comparisons to Haydn's symphonies and to Prokofiev's Classical Symphony. Shostakovich himself considered it "a joyful little piece".

Shostakovich once remarked that "musicians will like to play it, and critics will delight in blasting it". But the initial reaction of his peers to the new symphony was generally favourable. Shostakovich's prediction was right in the long run, however: less than a year after its première, Soviet critics censured the symphony for its "ideological weakness" and its failure to "reflect the true spirit of the people of the Soviet Union". By order of Glavrertkom, the central censorship board, the work was banned on 14 February 1948 in Shostakovich's second denunciation together with some other works by the composer. It was removed from the list in the summer of 1955 when the symphony was performed and broadcast.

- Program Note from Wikipedia


Media

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State Ratings

  • Alabama: Class AA
  • Maryland: VI


Performances

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  • Boston (Mass.) Conservatory Wind Ensemble (Eric Hewitt, conductor) – 16 September 2016


Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

  • Waltz No. 2 (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Brown) (post 1956/2021)


All Wind Works


Resources