Shostakovich Symphony No. 9

Shimmering prelude to a Romantic opera

The deeply serious opera Lohengrin is a knight’s tale, telling of the young Elsa who is unjustly accused of murdering her brother, the Duke of Brabant. Her innocence is proven by an unknown knight, Lohengrin, who arrives in a boat drawn by a swan. In the final act, he reveals his identity as the keeper of the Holy Grail. Wagner returned to the story of the Grail in his final opera, Parsifal, and, given that Lohengrin premiered 32 years earlier, this can be viewed as a prequel, as the mythological figure Lohengrin is Parsifal’s son. Although the preludes to these two operas share many similarities in tone and melody, the themes – for example, to the grail – are not the same. Lohengrin also includes the famous bridal chorus “Treulich geführt”, which remains popular at weddings around the world.

The soloist as inspiration

Anders Nilsson’s often romantic tonal language has provided many successes over the past two decades, not least his opera Zarah, which played to sold-out houses at Folkoperan in Stockholm in 2007. The MSO’s second world premiere of the season is provided by Nilsson’s Cello Concerto. He often has an intended soloist in mind when composing a concerto, and on this occasion it was Norwegian cellist Amalie Stalheim, who will be playing an instrument dating from 1687. “I have an internal image of the soloist, how they act both gesturally and musically, in front of the orchestra and in relation to it. I allow this internal image to inspire my music.”

Wagner the comedian

The Mastersingers of Nürnberg is Wagner’s only comic opera. A Wagner opera without giants, love potions or murder in which love is requited in the end – without the lovers having to die first. The prelude introduces the most important themes. including the grand theme of the mastersingers themselves. This work also has a distinct whiff of Wagner’s previous opera, Tristan and Isolde.

The prelude premiered in Leipzig in November 1862, although the opera in its entirety was not completed until 1868.

Stalin in a red nose

Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9 is one of his shortest works and is relatively cheery, comical even. This created problems. It was after all 1945 and the triumphant Red Army had just defeated Nazi Germany. The expectations resting on Shostakovich were such that he was to compose a tribute to Josef Stalin himself, something that the opposition-leaning composer found impossible to do.

Given these expectations, and what we know about the ruthless repression in the Soviet Union at the time, the results are verging on the reckless. The first and final movements adopt a playful tone that, with their skewed melodies and tones, would have been better suited to a Chaplin film. If Stalin is to be found anywhere in this music, it is clad in the red nose and battered top hat of a clown.

Initially censured by Soviet critics for its "ideological weakness” and its failure to "reflect the true spirit of the people of the Soviet Union”, the symphony was subsequently banned in 1948 and was not performed again until 1956, three years after Stalin’s death.