Classical Music - May 2016

Beethoven

• String Quartet No.3
• String Trio No.4
• Violin Sonata No.1
• Piano Sonata No.8, 'Pathetique'

Chopin - Piano Sonata No.3
Chopin - Berceuse 
Debussy

• Berceuse Heroique (piano and orchestral versions)
• La boîte à joujoux (piano version)
• Twelve Etudes for piano
• Page d'Album

Dvorak - Symphony No.4
Haydn - Piano Trio in G minor, Hob XV:25
Holmboe

• Symphony No.12
• Preludes 5 to 10 for chamber orchestra
• Intermezzo Concertante for tuba and orchestra
• Eco
• Sonatina for oboe and piano
• Trombone Sonata
• Reminiscences for solo violin 

Janacek - String Quartet No.2, 'Intimate Letters'
Mozart - Symphony No.30
Rachmaninov - Symphony No.1
Schumann - Nachtstücke
Schubert - String Quartet No.14
Shostakovich

• Symphonies 10 to 12
• String Quartets 5 to 8
• Cello Concerto No.1

Snider - Penelope
Szymanowski - Roxana's Song (violin and piano version)
Szymanowski - Kurpish Song (violin and piano version)
Vine - Symphony No.3

The Holmboe survey covered a fairly short period this month, from 1987 to 1991. One reason for slowing down is that I don't feel I know this late Holmboe as well as some of the earlier periods. I have a mental impression of the evolution of his work up until around the late 1970s, but then it gets a bit hazy. Certainly the works after that are a bit starker, but what else can I say about them?

And with the Preludes in particular, I was spending time getting to know them as distinct individual pieces, because on a first hearing it's easy to hear all 10 as similar works with nearly identical instrumentation. But in fact the character and mood of them varies considerably.

I think the most interesting exploration during the month, though, was of Shostakovich. The symphonies in particular were great listening experiences. The 10th symphony I already knew, although I wouldn't say I know my existing recording (Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra) all that well. My new set (Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra) certainly made me think it's a great work.

But then the 10th has a great reputation. More surprising was how much I enjoyed the 11th symphony, which sometimes gets criticised. Admittedly, I didn't think it was the best thing Shostakovich ever composed, but all of it was good and the final movement was superb. Even the 12th symphony, which has a distinctly bad reputation, seemed to me to be decent music on the whole.

I think reactions to Shostakovich are, more than for any other composer, wrapped up in political ideas and extra-musical associations. Some of these are legitimate things to take into account, whereas others strike me as fairly tenuous distractions. People are constantly telling listeners to look out for codes in Shostakovich's music instead of just letting the music to speak for itself. Yes, some of the music was undoubtedly written with political considerations in mind, but in the long term that's just a context. What's ultimately going to matter, when the Soviet Union period is a historical footnote, is whether the music itself makes people feel something. More often than not the answer is yes.