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Shostakovich: Symphony Number 5
4th Movement - The Final March

Shostakovich ended his symphony with a march, a guaranteed Stalin favorite. But the score reveals details that may suggest a less-than celebratory finale.

AIR-DATE
October 2009

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5

TAGS
Score, Shostakovich, Russia

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Shostakovich: Symphony Number 5
3rd Movement - Slow Movement Pathos

With the slow movement, a composer has the opportunity to change the emotions of the symphony yet again. At the Fifth Symphony’s premiere, many thought Shostakovich used this opportunity to expresses a deep sense of mourning. If so, whom or what has been lost?

AIR-DATE
October 2009

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0

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Score

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Shostakovich: Symphony Number 5
2nd Movement - A Musical Joke?

Literally meaning ‘joke,’ the scherzo has often been a place where composers feel free to have some fun. Given the circumstances, does Shostakovich dare joke? And if so, about what and with whom is he joking?

AIR-DATE
October 2009

COMMENTS
0

TAGS
Score, Shostakovich, Russia

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Shostakovich: Symphony Number 5
1st Movement - An Altered Folk Song

The score contains musical clues that can help us decipher Shostakovich’s intentions.

AIR-DATE
October 2009

COMMENTS
0

TAGS
Score, Shostakovich, Russia

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Shostakovich: Symphony Number 5
1st Movement - A Telling Opening Theme

Composers often build first themes from pregnant filled with possibilities for what the symphony is about. What can we learn from the motives that comprise Shostakovich’s first theme?

AIR-DATE
October 2009

COMMENTS
1

TAGS
Score, Shostakovich, Russia

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Ives: A Symphony: New England Holidays
IV. Thanksgiving And Forefathers' Day

A church organist for many years, Ives was impressed by the power of a simple hymn, especially when sung by a chorus of untrained voices. "I remember, when I was a boy," he said, "when things like … 'The Shining Shore'… and the like were sung by thousands of 'let out' souls. There was power and exaltation in these great conclaves of sound from humanity…"

AIR-DATE
October 2009

COMMENTS
1

TAGS
march, tunes, Ives, techniques, experiments, George, Charles, Danbury, band, Yale, noise

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Ives: A Symphony: New England Holidays
III. The Fourth Of July

Ives portrayed his memories as a jumble of seemingly independent sounds, riffs, and tunes, all layered on top of each other. "I wrote this," Ives said of The Fourth of July, "feeling free to remember local things etc., and put in as many feelings and rhythms as I wanted to put together. And I did what I wanted to, quite sure that the thing would never be played, and perhaps could never be played…"

AIR-DATE
October 2009

COMMENTS
1

TAGS
march, tunes, Ives, techniques, experiments, George, Charles, Danbury, band, Yale, noise

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Ives: A Symphony: New England Holidays
II. Decoration Day

Like his father, Charles liked to replicate the natural way that sound occurred. One of his favorite techniques was to place one or two instruments apart from the rest of the orchestra, as if to capture a fleeting thought from the recesses of one's memory. According to Ives, these instruments "should always be kept at a much lower intensity than the other parts, standing in the background as a kind of shadow to the others…"

AIR-DATE
October 2009

COMMENTS
1

TAGS
march, tunes, Ives, techniques, experiments, George, Charles, Danbury, band, Yale, noise

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Ives: A Symphony: New England Holidays
I. Washington's Birthday

Growing up as the son of a bandleader, Charles Ives was always surrounded by music. He learned early on the power of popular tunes to bring back thoughts of people, places, events, even feelings. One of his favorite techniques was to quote bits of tunes his audience would know to evoke the memories they shared. But many found the way he quoted them quite shocking.

AIR-DATE
October 2009

COMMENTS
3

TAGS
march, tunes, Ives, techniques, experiments, George, Charles, Danbury, band, Yale, noise

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Beethoven: Symphony No. 3, 'Eroica'
IV. Finale: Allegro molto

Six excerpts to the triumphant Fourth movement. Here we have Beethoven the showman, the ultimate improviser who can turn even the most inconsequential of themes into the basis for a masterwork.

AIR-DATE
October 2006

COMMENTS
1

TAGS
Score, Beethoven, Eroica