Symphony No.11 in G minor "The Year 1905" - Dmitri Shostakovich

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vasily Petrenko.
I - The Palace Square. Adagio (𝅘𝅥 = 66) - (attacca): 0:00
II - The Ninth of January. Allegro (𝅘𝅥 = 176) - Adagio (𝅘𝅥 = 66) - Allegro (𝅗𝅥 = 108) - Adagio (𝅘𝅥 = 66) - (attacca): 13:39
III - In Memoriam. Adagio (𝅘𝅥 = 72) - Poco più mosso - Tempo I - (attacca): 31:57
IV - The Tocsin. Allegro non troppo (𝅘𝅥 = 120) - Allegro (𝅘𝅥 = 168) - Moderato (𝅗𝅥. = 72) - Adagio (𝅘𝅥 = 100) - Allegro (𝅘𝅥 = 172): 43:07
Shostakovich's Symphony No.11 was composed between February 18 and August 4 of 1957. It was premiered on October 30 of 1957, performed by the USSR Symphony Orchestra conducted by Natan Rakhlin. It was conceived as a popular piece and proved an instant success in the Soviet Union for both audiences and critics, his greatest one since the Leningrad Symphony fifteen years earlier. The work's popularity, as well as its earning him a Lenin Prize in April 1958, marked the composer's formal rehabilitation from the second denunciation of 1948.
The subtitle of the symphony refers to the events of the Russian Revolution of 1905, which the symphony depicts; Hungry peasant revolted and looted the property of aristocrats, workers went into strikes demanding more rights, students rebelled as liberal and socialist ideals spread through universities, soldiers mutinied after humiliating defeats during the Russo-Japanese war, minorities protested against the "Russification" policy of the government. In sum, urgents reforms were needed. On Sunday January 22, pacific demonstrators led by Father Georgy Gapon, were fired upon by soldiers of the Imperial Guard as they marched towards the Winter Palace to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.
This event provoked public indignation, and was followed by a series of massive strikes that paralysed the whole country. Naval mutinies began to take place at Sevastopol, Vladivostok, and Kronstadt, peaking with the mutiny aboard the battleship Potemkin. However, rebellions were quickly crushed, and the government attempted to quell the revolution through wide reforms and the creation of the State Duma. Tsar Nicholas II, unwilling to meet the demands of the population, opposed these reforms and they largely failed. The revolution may have been crushed by 1906, but the tsar was then widely seen as an enemy of the population, and the regime wouldn't survive the October Revolution of 1917.
The first movement depicts the quietness of Palace Square on the morning of Bloody Sunday. It begins with a slow, sinuous introduction of strings in form of a slavic chorale, which will be a recurring motive in the whole work along a timpani ostinato. Bugle and horn calls, along ominous snare drum and timpani beats, lead us to a lyrical main theme on flutes, derived from the folksong "Slushai" (Listen). It is contrasted by a dramatic second theme, derived from "Arrestant" (The Prisoner) on low strings and muted brass. The protestors gradually assemble in the cold winter morning. A slow and contrapuntal development transforms these materials, before the recapitulation brings back the themes. A transition leads us to the next part.
The second movement represents the Bloody Sunday itself. It opens with a rushing figure on strings, representing the protestors assembling to complain about the government's increased inefficiency, corruption, and harsh ways. Woodwinds introduce an anxious main theme derived from the folksong "Goy ty, tsar nash, batyushka" (O thou, our Tsar, our father). It is taken by strings as it grows more intense and restless, reaching a powerful climax. After the theme is recapitulated in its original form, the music again builds to a portentous and dramatic climax. The slavic chorale from the beginning then returns on piccolo and flute underscored by muted brass.
Suddenly, a pounding march unleashes based on the timpani ostinati previously heard. It represents the imperial guard marching towards the protestors and the ensuing general confusion, painted through a chaotic fugato. Over percussion, a dissonant and menacing theme is presented, derived from the folksong "Obnazhite golovy" (Bare your heads). The guards shoot the civilians and charge against them with no mercy. The slavic chorale returns, as the guns have silenced the people and blood covers the snow. The flute recapitulates the themes heard in the first movement, before leading us to the next part through the timpani ostinato.
[Musical analysis continued in the comments section].
Picture: "October 17, 1905 - Celebration of the new Russian constitution" by the Ukrainian-Russian painter Ilya Repin.
Musical analysis partially written by myself. Sources: tinyurl.com/27w7wgjn and tinyurl.com/2ae57ja7
To check the score: tinyurl.com/26zu4coa

The third movement is a requiem dedicated to the victims of the revolution. It begins with string pizzicati, followed by violas introducing a funereal main theme, derived from the folksong "Vy zhertvoyu pali" (You Fell as Victims), unfolding in a restrained yet expressive manner. Strings then warmly introduce a second theme, derived from (Hail, free word of Liberty). It grows more intense and passionate, reaching a solemn climax in which we also hear the first phrase of "Bare your Heads" against heroic triplets on the timpani. This is not only a memory of the fallen, but also exudes a desire for vengeance. After the music calms down, the main theme is calmly recapitulated. Fateful timpani blows lead us into the finale.
The fourth movement represents the revolution itself unleashing after the Bloody Sunday. It opens with a wilful and vigorous march theme, derived from the folksong "Besnuytes, tyranny" (Rage, tyrants). It is followed by "Varshavyanka" (Whirlwind of danger) and "Ogonki" (Sparks). These material, along the reappearance of several previous themes, lead us to a bold and agitated development. The music reaches a bellicose and menacing climax with these materials in counterpoint. It is answered by a solemn and bright climax. For the final time, we hear the slavic chorale, followed by a lamenting English horn solo with the theme derived from "Bare your heads" in counterpoint. After a brief pause, a violent, militant cacophony amid the clanging of tubular bells leads us to the end. The ambiguous final coda, in which neither triumph nor defeat seems to be achieved, ends the whole work in a state of alarm and shock.
Now let's proceed to analyse the possible meanings of the work. As previously, we find three layers. The first one is that the work merely attempts to portray the 1905 revolution musically and in a style accessible to satisfy both audiences and critis alike. This is supported by the use of revolutionary folksongs widely present in 1905, and which many people would still recognize at the time. Shostakovich own public declarations also support this intention, but as we have seen, the composers public statements hardly are completely sincere. However, if this was the case, why did official critics later attack the piece? It also seems cinematic, but hardly follows socialist realism at its core, and the ending is hardly triumphal.
A second, rarely brought up interpretation is that the symphony actually mirrors current events in Russia. The 1905 would be then just a smokescreen (as was the war in Symphonies No. 7 and 8) to portray how Stalinism destroyed Russia. In this case, the use of folksongs are not immerse us in 1905, but are the familiar materials Shostakovich heard in his childhood and that he poured in the piece in an autobiographical vein. This interpretation, while can fit widely the music, is not supported by outside references. The third interpretation is mostly contained in Solomon Volkov's controversial Book "Testimony", in which supposedly the symphony was a direct response to the brutal repression of the Hungarian uprising by the Soviet Army.
Shostakovich told Solomon Volkov: "The people would basically be destined to suffer at the hands of indifferent autocrats; they would periodically protest in the name of humanity, only to be betrayed or punished. I wanted to show this recurrence in the Eleventh Symphony… It’s about the people, who have stopped believing because the cup of evil has run over." However, when Sofia Khentova asked Shostakovich in 1974 whether the Eleventh was a veiled reference to the Hungarian Revolution, he replied: "No, it is 1905, it is Russian history." For this reason and the lack of other less-biased testimonies, this interpretation seems hard to defend.
As I have pointed several times before, it's up to the reader to reach his own conclusions. The music is ambiguous enough to fit multiple interpretations, but still masterful for us to appreciate beyond the battle of ideologies and interpretations in the so-called "Shostakovich Wars". The general nickname of "soundtrack without a film" as hardly apt, as the piece is not directly inspired by pictorial elements instead of folksongs over which the music is constructed. Otherwise, the piece is an astounding achievement in programmatic music.