Unlike Sergei Prokofiev, who had the misfortune of dying on the same day as Stalin (March 5, 1953), thus causing his funeral to pass into the background, Dmitri Shostakovich survived the great Soviet leader for over twenty years. During that period, Soviet cultural life underwent significant changes, which could be appreciated a few months after the great leader's death.
Dmitri, who, along with Sergei, had headed the sadly famous list of composers who had gone astray, witnessed the new airs when in December 1953, he was asked to compose a short work in commemoration of the next anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution. He called it "Festive Overture"... so much so that the composer allowed himself to include in it a tune taken from the Opera that in 1932 had brought him the first reprimand.
Legend has it that the master would have composed it with astonishing speed. Mythical versions of the time taken range from a few hours to three days.
What is unquestionable is that the new cultural era favored a fresh look at works that Shostakovich had abandoned due to the uncertainty surrounding their composition and subsequent reception. The maestro took them up again with the serious intention of finishing them. That is what he was doing when he received the commission. It is possible, therefore, that, in those circumstances, he devoted no more than three days to the brief work that greeted the revolution.
Festive Overture, for orchestra, in A Major, opus 96
Curiously, this is a traditional, if not conservative, work. In its scant six minutes long it brims with a joyful mood, without majestic boasts or pomp. The piece opens with a jaunty fanfare. It is followed by a lively section based on a melody from the already mentioned 1932 opera, which picks up speed. The somewhat grandiloquent finale shows that Shostakovich took no chances here. He was right, in over ten years, when it comes to a new symphony, the authorities will be wrinkling their noses again.
hr-Sinfonieorchester – Frankfurt Radio Symphony / Pablo Heras-Casado, Dirigent.
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