Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3 "The First of May"; Two Scherzos
8/15/2025, 14 Tracks, 1:15:06
Featuring
John Storgårds
BBC Philharmonic
Hallé Choir
Dmitri Shostakovich
Did you know?
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Composition History
Shostakovich's Scherzo in F sharp minor, Op. 1, was composed when he was thirteen and dedicated to his composition teacher, Maximilian Steinberg, a pupil and son-in-law of Rimsky-Korsakov.
Compositional Technique
The Scherzo in F sharp minor, Op. 1, shows ingenuity in its contrapuntal combination of themes and features a sophisticated retransition where the climax of the trio and the return of the scherzo are telescoped.
Historical Context
Shostakovich's Third Symphony, 'The First of May', was submitted as a postgraduate requirement and was explained as expressing 'the festive spirit of peaceful construction' during Stalin's first Five-Year Plan.
Composition History
Shostakovich's First Symphony, Op. 10, was written as a graduation test for his composition class at the Petrograd Conservatoire and became an instant success, marking him as a 'Boy Wonder'.
Composer Biography
Dmitri Shostakovich, the composer, was born into a relatively well-off family but experienced privations in the early Bolshevik era.
Critical Reception
The First Symphony had a famous triumph at its premiere in 1926, with the scherzo movement being encored, and was subsequently taken up by renowned conductors like Bruno Walter and Leopold Stokowski.
Critical Reception
The Third Symphony was initially not unsuccessful but was soon overshadowed by the controversy surrounding Shostakovich's opera 'The Nose', which drew accusations of 'formalism' (deference to Western modernism).
