{ program notes
this utterly unique symphony, the home
chord of C Major is only reached at the
very last moment.
Instrumentation: Two flutes, two piccolos,
two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four
horns, three trumpets, three trombones,
timpani and strings.
Cello Concerto No. 1
Dmitri Shostakovich
Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, September 25,
1906; died in Moscow, August 9, 1975
When Shostakovich composed his First
Cello Concerto in July 1959, Stalin
had already been dead for six years and
Khrushchev was beginning to chip away
at the old dictator’s image in a process
known as “de-Stalinization.” Twice, in
1936 and in 1948, Shostakovich had been
denounced by Stalin’s culture police and
had nervously awaited exile to Siberia or
worse. But under Khrushchev, he was
acknowledged as the U.S.S.R.’s greatest
composer and showered with honors.
Nevertheless, Shostakovich always
remained on the defensive and wrote
his most personal works for a handful
of trusted artists. Mstislav Rostropovich
had long hoped for a concerto from
the composer, and so when Shostakovich surprised him with the First Cello
Concerto in the summer of 1959, he was
so exhilarated he memorized it in just
four days. The composer knew he could
rely on Rostropovich not only to fulfill
the concerto’s formidable technical
challenges, but even more importantly
to understand and interpret its dark
emotions and the political subtext they
seem to imply. For as Michael Steinberg
has written, this is “a work that feeds on
grim memories.”
Rather disingenuously, however,
Shostakovich said he only “took a simple
little theme and tried to develop it.” We
hear that little theme — just four nervously twisting notes — in the cello as the
first movement opens, and we will hear it
again and again throughout the concerto.
It is answered by a military ra-ta-tat,
ra-ta-tat rhythm, which will also pervade
30 O v ertur e |
www. bsomusic .org
the movement, in the woodwinds’ most
acid, mechanical tones. Soon the cello
introduces the other major theme, which
clings obsessively to the note G. In frantic
efforts to escape, the cello pushes higher
and higher until it fastens onto a G at
the top of its treble range. Later when
this theme recapitulates, it is dramatically re-conceived: a solo horn carries
the theme while the cello executes a
tortured dance below. Throughout, the
four-note theme yammers away; originally tentative and questioning,
it becomes mocking, even menacing.
The second is one of Shostakovich’s
great tragic slow movements. After a
gentle introduction in the strings, the
cello sings a mournful melody in the
minor mode based on Jewish folk song,
with violins wearily weaving in the
background. (Though not himself Jewish,
Shostakovich was fascinated by Jewish
folk music and incorporated it in several
of his works.) The music moves through
two more melodic sections, the second
of these a little more hopeful in character and in the major mode. This rises
to a climax with the melody high in the
violins, the cello sobbing, too, at the top
of its range. The minor-mode first melody
now returns in a setting of heartbreaking
poignancy: the cello singing in its highest
soprano register, echoed by a celesta over
the drooping violins.
What follows is an extraordinary
unaccompanied cadenza for the cello
that provides further commentary on the
second movement’s tragedy. It is one of
the greatest passages in the cello literature
and an extreme test of the cellist’s ability
to express and sustain emotion using every
technical weapon in his arsenal. Toward
the end, we hear hints of the little fournote theme again.
Shostakovich