A Riveting Fifth

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One of the most satisfying experiences you can have at a concert consists of being forced to reexamine your own attitude toward a piece of music. I had just such an experience on Friday, at the San Francisco Symphony’s performance of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony. Before heading into Davies Symphony Hall, I was convinced that I knew a great deal about this piece, from having performed it, studied it, read about it, and even taught it.

I was also convinced that I didn’t particularly want to hear the piece again anytime soon. But after the orchestra’s compelling performance — and a fascinating lecture/demonstration by Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas — I left the hall with a renewed love of the piece, feeling reassured that, in fact, there was still a lot for me to learn.

Tilson Thomas’ lecture on the Fifth Symphony, led from the podium with the orchestra providing musical examples, was recorded for the Keeping Score series the orchestra produces in conjunction with PBS. Tilson Thomas spoke eloquently, giving his own personal reading of the work and steering well clear of dubious assertions of Shostakovich’s authorial intentions. His speech was peppered with musical examples drawn not only from the Fifth Symphony, but also from Shostakovich’s symphonic models, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Mahler.

In his talk, MTT drew my attention to a number of elements I had never noticed before, such as the way in which a pattern of three repeated pitches recurs throughout the piece to form, in his view, a musical “dead end.” He also noted how the opening theme of the fourth movement grows out of a motive that appears early in the first movement.

Slower Wins Out

The only moment when the musicologist in me found fault with the lecture was when Tilson Thomas glossed over the issue of the tempo at the work’s conclusion. There is a great deal of controversy over the final metronome mark; originally written at 188 to the quarter note, it was later reprinted as 184 to the eighth. Although I’m not bothered by MTT’s choice of the slower tempo (both in his talk and in the performance), it seems an important element to mention, as how a conductor reads the piece can hinge on the decision made about this single marking.

The performance itself was truly riveting. Tilson Thomas conducted from memory and with utter conviction. The orchestra played with marvelous attention to details of phrasing, balance, and articulation. Throughout the performance, MTT highlighted the way in which each phrase seems slightly disconnected from the phrase that follows, as if the work’s symphonic logic were broken. In doing so, he drew attention to the montagelike, filmic qualities of the work (a point he made during the talk, as well).

Many fine solo performances were given over the course of the symphony. The flute and horn duet between Tim Day and Robert Ward in the first movement was delivered with ease, and the clarinet solo by Carey Bell in the third movement was hauntingly mournful. Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik — who played for years under the piece’s original interpreter, Eugene Mravinsky — delivered a wonderfully cheeky solo in the trio of the second movement. The brass and percussion were in excellent form, playing each dramatic climax with a beautiful blended tone, impeccable intonation, and clear articulation.

In comparison to the magnificent performance of the Fifth Symphony, the first item on the program proved to be a disappointment. This was a performance of Shostakovich’s collection of 11 songs, From Jewish Folk Poetry, featuring soprano Oksana Dyka, mezzo-soprano Elena Manistina, and tenor Vsevolod Grivnov. On the whole the singing was passable and the balance between orchestra and soloists judiciously monitored. But in general the performance felt perfunctory and under-rehearsed.

There was a pervasive lack of attention to details in phrasing, and many transition passages felt precarious. Numerous problems with intonation in the orchestra were heard, beginning with the opening notes in the cellos and basses. These intonation problems seemed to infect the singers, who had trouble stabilizing pitch throughout the performance. Furthermore, the singers lacked in stage presence; the eyes of soprano Manistina were almost constantly glued to the score.

Alexander Kahn is a Ph.D. candidate in music history and literature at UC Berkeley, where his research is focused on the Hollywood émigrés. He is also the assistant conductor of the Oakland Civic and the UC Berkeley symphony orchestras.