577. Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4 in C minor. Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by André Previn. This is the most terrifying music I have ever heard. The first time I listened to it, it made my skin crawl, and it still does. This is testament to how powerful it is. The symphony was written in 1936, but then withdrawn and never performed until 1961, because the Soviet authorities had just threatened Shostakovich after Stalin was so appalled by the opera ‘Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk’. This new symphony was too dark, too dangerous, and for those with the ears to hear it was all about the terror which was engulfing the Soviet Union during Stalin’s purges. You can hear it! The first movement runs for almost 30 minutes, and it’s a relentless series of themes and cacophony. Just when you think you’ve been scared enough, something else jumps up. Some of the written score is marked ffff! You can’t get louder than that.
The second movement is a creepy dance of death. That’s what I think it is, anyway. It ends with a percussion pattern playing over hushed strings. It’s as if the skeletons are scrambling back to their graves.
Is this fun? Is this what music is supposed to do? Yes, sometimes.
The final movement starts with a slow march which builds to a devastating crescendo, sounding as if evil has won and is cackling at us. Then Shostakovich moves into a dreamy ballet of sorts, in the realm of unreality. Then a loud, driving finale before everything crashes down and fades into the darkest parts of the universe.
Throughout is a two-note motif, which sometimes sounds like a bird, sometimes a knock on the door, sometimes a boot stomping.
No wonder 25 years passed before this was premiered. It contains nothing about the promised paradise of the Soviet state. Which is precisely the point.
Compelling, terrifying and thrilling. #TLDR #CDsAtoZ 💿