Shostakovich: Symphony No. 15 in A Major, Op. 141: III. Allegretto

there are a number of recordings out there that insist on taking the first and third movements at the speed of  traditional "fast" movements. after giving all of these a good listen i have decided there's definitely a reason shostakovich doesn't write "allegro" ever. this movement is obviously the symphony's "scherzo," but though it has a bit of that atmosphere, it shouldn't be taken too fast.

the lead-in is attacca from the previous movement, a series of ascending fifths in the bassoon that rudely interrupts the reverie that might be inspired by the final pizzicati of the second movement.

this is the only recording i can find which actually takes the speed of this movement as the title implies. i like the deliberateness of this tempo. nothing about it should be light or carefree or funny.

the theme played by the clarinet and next the violin is actually twelve tone music. one of the interesting things the conductor told us during our rehearsals was that as a soviet composer shosty was forced to speak against twelve tone music as bourgeois excessiveness. so it's quite interesting that he does his own exploration with it here. also, this is the most earwormy twelve tone music i have ever heard, and he's obviously into the idea of making music that, while still twelve-tone, is still rhythmically and even harmonically graspable.

the second theme is a sidling, ingratiating little slip of a tune played by the solo violin and then the clarinetist. it is followed by a development of sorts, which is very short - a theme by the cello section, which gets repeated by the wind section, both with amazingly orchestrated rhythm sections in the background. this is rounded off with a declarative bassoon solo, leading back into the ascending fifths that start the movement. 

the last thing worth noting about this movement is the use of the percussion ticking off to the close. this is remarkable writing and really foreshadows the end of the symphony.

the end of the movement might be considered "cute" in a way, but i would smack anyone who felt like giggling after the end as sometimes happens with cutesy movements in symphonic concerts. this movement is not about being cute or light. one of the other interesting anecdotes the conductor told us last week was how he met shostakovich in old age, when he was a boy. he was in so many respects a broken man, shaking with parkinson's, sickly and strange. in this movement one gets a sense of wrongness, a twisted discomfort of melodies that wiggle around and can't ever seem to find anything comfortable. everything is wrong, the bedsheets are itchy and visions are dancing at the corners of the eyes, the voice won't work correctly and the eyes are too dry to cry. he is about to die in this symphony, and this movement is shaking, hallucinating maybe, the skeletal remains of a harrowed life.