Shostakovich: Chamber Symphonies / Suite on Finnish Themes

This work was written in late 1939, in the shadow of his 6th Symphony, as well as the Soviet invasion of Finland. As near as I can determine, from both the nicely comprehensive booklet notes and some web research, Shostakovich completed this work just days after the Finnish invasion (3 Dec 1939 vs. 30 Nov 1939), and subsequent to its completion Shostakovich never mentioned it in any correspondence, nor did anyone else who might have been aware of its existence.

One needs to be mindful of the certain fear Shostakovich had regarding going against the whims of of Stalin and the party apparatchiks, who only a few years earlier had roundly criticized him for "formalism" in his writing of the opera "Lady MacBeth of the Mtensk District" (despite the fact that it had already been a critical and a popular success in both Leningrad and Moscow). This was the famous "muddle instead of music" affair, the outcome of which was his writing of the 5th Symphony. Given this fear, it is not outside the realm of possibility that the reason for his silence on the work's completion may have had to do with its "late" date of completion, vis-à-vis the Finnish affair, lest he be thought unpatriotic. In any event, the score to the work, unknown for more than sixty years, eventually turned up two years ago, in St. Petersburg, in what had been the library of a Leningrad musicologist.

Scored for a small group of strings, flute, oboe, clarinet, trumpet, piano and percussion, with soprano and tenor soloists, this is a very interesting find, inasmuch as one would be hard-pressed to deduce that Shostakovich had been the composer, except perhaps at the margins. The songs have Finnish texts. The music might well have been written by a youthful Sibelius, from the way it sounds, were it not for certain – but, at the end of the day – slight stylistic touches, particularly in the instrumental writing, that are suggestive of Shostakovich. Five of the seven songs have texts (the first and third are purely instrumental), and all are in minor keys. But these are "bright" minor keys, almost – but not quite – bordering on "cheerful"; nothing along the lines of what Shostakovich was capable of on his darkest days. The full Suite is less than twelve minutes long. If not "major league" Shostakovich, it is nonetheless fascinating for its novelty. And, while Shostakovich had used other "folk" sources (Jewish, Kirghiz, etc.) as themes for better-known compositions, this Suite does seem to stand alone in terms of its unique-for-Shostakovich sound.

Not only is this a fascinating find; it is coupled with shatteringly intense performances of the Rudolf Barshai arrangements of the 8th and 10th Quartets for chamber orchestra. Of the fifteen Shostakovich string quartets, these are undoubtedly the most famous by far. (The 8th Quartet, subtitled "In memory of victims of fascism and war," has many recognizable themes from other Shostakovich works, most particularly his 5th and 8th Symphonies.) These chamber orchestra arrangements are by far the best I’ve heard (not having been able to hear Barshai’s own recordings of them).

Irina Shostakovich (the composer's widow) turned the manuscript for the newly-found Suite over to the Kaustinen Festival in Finland for its premiere (at which this recording was made). The performance is by the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, led by Juha Kangas, the same group who did such a fine job on a rather recent Ondine release of the Complete Music for Strings by Einojuhani Rautavaara that I had earlier commented on at its Amazon product page.

The total length of this CD is slightly under an hour. Despite this, it is very highly recommended both for the world premiere of the Suite and for the intense performances of the Barshai chamber orchestra arrangements of the quartets. And not necessarily just for Shostakovich compleatists.