review of concert on 31/10/02
Taken from Varsity, 08/11/2002
Forbidden Fruit
Joseph Finlay tackles some controversial Shostakovich
Shostakovich's 4th Symphony has an interesting and complex history. Written in 1935-6, it was withdrawn from rehearsals after a series of articles in the state press harshly criticised the composer, one famously entitled 'Muddle Instead of Music'. In this climate of hostility, the complexities and idiosyncrasies of the 4th symphony could have ended Shostakovich's career, so the decision to withdraw it was a pragmatic, rather than an ideological one.
He went on to write his celebrated and supposedly patriotic 5th symphony, with the 4th not being heard until 25 years later, after Krushchev had come to power. This background information is fascinating, in fact all too fascinating. As so often with Shostakovich, interest in the political situation in which it was written conceals problems with the quality of the music itself. That is not to say Shostakovich is not a fine composer, but the regular exultation of him as one of the great composers of the twentieth century is surely wide of the mark. He is hardly in the same league as a Bartok, a Stravinsky or a Messaien.
The 4th symphony, although one of his more attractive works, seems patchy, with some very beautiful and striking music side by side with the usual sub-Mahler material. This came across in Isis' generally impressive performance of the work — the best music, such as the fiendishly difficult fugue at the end of the first movement and the wonderfully still conclusion to the symphony came across very well, while in the less inspired passages, some problems of tuning and articulation were more evident.
The performance, ably conducted by Steven Rajam, was very musical, very committed and extremely energetic. Isis must be commended for taking on such large-scale, difficult works, with the hope that future concerts in the year will tackle twentieth-century music that is less rooted in the excesses of the nineteenth-century symphonic tradition.