The Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 54 by Dmitri Shostakovich was written in 1939, and first performed in Leningrad on 21 November 1939 by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under Evgeny Mravinsky.
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Symphony No. 6 is in three movements and is approximately 30 minutes in length:
The Sixth Symphony is unusual in structure, beginning with a long and introspective slow movement, followed by two short movements: a scherzo and a "full-blooded and debauched music-hall galop". The third movement galop is the movement Shostakovich himself thought was most successful. On average, the first movement is 15-20 minutes long, the second movement is 4-6 minutes long, and the third movement is 5-7 minutes long.
This symphony is scored for 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), 3 oboes (3rd doubling cor anglais), 4 clarinets (3rd doubling Eb clarinet, 4th doubling bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (3rd doubling contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, tam-tam, xylophone, harp, celesta and strings.
The Sixth Symphony was originally said to be a large-scale "Lenin Symphony" - a project which was often announced, but never materialised. Shostakovich had announced once in September 1938 that he was anxious to work on his Sixth Symphony, which would be a monumental composition for soloists, chorus and orchestra employing the poem Vladimir Ilyich Lenin by Vladimir Mayakovsky, but the declamatory nature of the poem made it difficult to set. He later tried to incorporate other literature about Lenin in his new symphony, but without success. In January 1939, he spoke about the Sixth Symphony in a radio address, with no mention of Lenin or any extramusical associations.[1]
The purely instrumental Symphony No. 6 was completed in September 1939. Shostakovich commented on it in the press:
The musical character of the Sixth Symphony will differ from the mood and emotional tone of the Fifth Symphony, in which moments of tragedy and tension were characteristic. In my latest symphony, music of a contemplative and lyrical order predominates. I wanted to convey in it the moods of spring, joy, youth.[2]
On 21 November 1939, exactly two years after the première of the Symphony No. 5, the première of the Symphony No. 6 took place in the Large Hall of the Leningrad Philharmonic in Leningrad by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under Evgeny Mravinsky, which was the same location and performers as the première of his previous symphony. In the same programme was the Romantic Poem for violin and orchestra of Zhelobinsky.[3] The symphony had a successful première, and the finale was encored. However, although a local critic lauded Shostakovich for further freeing himself from formalistic tendencies in his new symphony, the work was later criticised for its ungainly structure and the jarring juxtaposition of moods. The fact that the symphony was performed during a 10-day festival of Soviet music which included patriotic works by Prokofiev (excerpts from Alexander Nevsky) and Shaporin (On the Field of Kulikovo) probably did not help.[4]
The first recording was made by Leopold Stokowski with the Philadelphia Orchestra for RCA Victor in December 1940.
Notable recordings of this symphony include:
| Orchestra | Conductor | Record Company | Year of Recording | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Philharmonic | Fritz Reiner | Guild | 1943* | CD |
| BBC Symphony Orchestra | Gennadi Rozhdestvensky | BBC Legends | 1980 | CD |
| Royal Philharmonic Orchestra | Vladimir Ashkenazy | Decca Records | 1988 | CD |
| National Symphony Orchestra | Mstislav Rostropovich | Teldec | 1994 | CD |
| Dallas Symphony Orchestra | Andrew Litton | Delos | 2000 | CD |
| Kirov Orchestra | Valery Gergiev | Philips Classics | 2002 | CD |
| St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra | Yuri Temirkanov | Warner Classics | 2005(1) | CD |
| Berlin Symphony Orchestra | Kurt Sanderling | Berlin Classics | CD | |
| Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra | Bernard Haitink | Decca Classics | CD | |
| Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra | Mariss Jansons | EMI Classics | CD | |
| Prague Symphony Orchestra | Maxim Shostakovich | Supraphon | CD | |
| Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi | Oleg Caetani | Arts Music | CD | |
| BBC National Orchestra of Wales | Mark Wigglesworth | BIS Records | CD |
* = Mono recording
(1) = recorded live in Birmingham
Source: arkivmusic.com (recommended recordings selected based on critics reviews)