If the key stylistic reference in Shostakovich’s symphonies from the Fifth onwards would unmistakably be Mahler, his early symphonies show a much more catholic array of influences, and often hint at other directions his music might have taken had events in the Soviet Union allowed him the freedom of choice. The First Symphony in particular, composed in 1924-25, is an energised bundle of ideas derived from many sources, with the Stravinsky of Petrushka and the early neoclassicism of Paul Hindemith vying for supremacy in music that careers along with sudden changes of direction – alternating exuberance with flashes of pathos – which never fail to surprise.
In what is the latest instalment of their Shostakovich series for Chandos, John Storgårds and the BBC Philharmonic are more effective in maintaining the momentum of the faster music than they are in registering the moments of deeper, darker emotion, so that a crucial dimension often seems to be lacking. It’s the rendition of the much less frequently performed and recorded Third Symphony, composed four years after the First, in 1929, that’s the more convincing here. In between these works, the Second Symphony, composed for the 10th anniversary of the October revolution in 1927, contained some of the most radical music Shostakovich would ever compose, while the single-movement Third, subtitled “The First of May” and which ends with a tub-thumping hymn celebrating International Workers Day, takes a step back and is distinctly less iconoclastic.
But Storgårds skilfully negotiates its changes of gear and he pairs the symphonies with real curiosities – two pieces, both scherzos, that pre-date even the First Symphony. Scherzo No 1, which Shostakovich designated as his Op 1, was composed in 1919 when he was just 13 years old; it was dedicated to his composition teacher Maximilian Steinberg and shows the influence of Glazunov more than anyone else. While in Scherzo No 2, completed in 1924, Stravinsky has become part of the mix, and the First Symphony is just around the corner.
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