Bitter, brooding and sarcastic – yet always deeply moving – Dmitri Shostakovich’s 15 symphonies reflect more vividly than almost any other 20th-century creations the blood and brutality of perhaps the most violent period in human history.
These works and, indeed, the great Russian composer’s entire oeuvre are being saluted this year as part of a worldwide celebration of the 100th anniversary of his birth. And Colorado Symphony concerts next weekend will be devoted to his music.
For much of his life, Shostakovich (1906-1975) was often dismissed in the West as a kind of Soviet apologist. But after his death, musicologists and others began to realize that rather than supporting an often oppressive regime, the composer slyly subverted it at nearly every turn.
His works were once rarities on Western programs, but in the past few decades, his music has moved into the mainstream. His symphonies appear regularly on orchestral programs in large and small cities alike.
“Actually, you can say that Shostakovich has taken a place as one of the leading composers on all concert platforms in the world,” said Mariss Jansons, music director of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and the Bavarian Radio Symphony. “Definitely, he has taken a leading position in the music world. There’s no doubt about it.”
Jansons, whom BBC Music Magazine has called one of the top conductors of our time, recently completed recording all the Shostakovich symphonies. This massive undertaking took nearly 20 years to finish.
The process dragged on so long that he was unsure it would ever be completed, due to the downturn in classical-music recording in the 1990s and doubts about the project’s continuing financial viability.
Rather than recording with one orchestra as is standard practice for a set of works of this kind, Jansons decided to use different orchestras. He ultimately collaborated with eight major ones in all, including the London Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony and Bavarian Radio Symphony.
“Because Shostakovich belongs to all the world and everybody can play and feel his music, I wanted to introduce how the international orchestras can play and understand his music,” Jansons said from a hotel in Amsterdam.
The resulting compact discs have been released separately in past years. But with the recording of the 14th Symphony last fall completing the project, EMI Records plans to package them as a box set and release them later this year in conjunction with the composer’s centenary on Sept. 25.
The release is sure to generate considerable attention, and rightly so. These are intelligent, incisive and emotionally searing interpretations from someone who has a long relationship with these works and a special kinship with the composer.
Jansons grew up in the Soviet Union – first in Riga, Latvia, where he was born in 1943, and later in Leningrad, now called St. Petersburg, as it was known when Shostakovich was born there. Jansons met the composer on many occasions.
“I lived in this country, and I know all the atmosphere and all the circumstances and all the systems and the difficulties and problems, which, actually, you can hear in his music, so it’s very close to me,” he said.
Beyond the social and historical tumult captured in Shostakovich’s music, Jansons sees him as the key heir to Gustav Mahler, carrying on and revitalizing the symphonic tradition. Indeed, the conductor considers Shostakovich the greatest symphonist of the 20th century.
Many elements go into creating an enduring interpretation of the composer’s works. But Jansons said none is more important than not being deceived by the seeming sense of triumph or victory at certain points in the music, especially the finales.
Fine arts critic Kyle MacMillan can be reached at 303-820-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com.
Dmitri Shostakovich
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