THE BACKSTORY:Written in 1943 when World War II was in its 4th year, Shostakovich's 8th symphony presented a particular challenge for its composer. Under the totalitarian regime of Stalin, any music considered pessimistic, dissonant or anti-Soviet was treated as a political offense punishable by imprisonment, being sent to a gulag (Soviet labor camp), or even execution. At this point in the war, things were beginning to take a turn as the Germans were defeated at Stalingrad. The fact that Stalin had defeated the Nazis was a source of great national pride, despite many Soviet lives being lost. In such times of relative peace or victory, Soviet composers were expected to convey nothing but optimism. But Shostakovich was all too aware of the dear price in death toll that was paid for that Nazi defeat, and besides, he feared that Stalin would become even more powerful in its wake.
Sure enough, at its first performance in November 1943, Symphony No. 8 was criticized for its gloomy, tragic, anti-Soviet nature which displeased Party officials. Furthermore, Shostakovich had failed to provide the politically obligatory triumphant finale to this symphony.
Publicly, Shostakovich mockingly wrote, "The philosophical conception of my new work (Symphony No. 8) can be summed up in these words: life is beautiful. All that is dark and evil rots away, and beauty triumphs."
But privately, Shostakovich had other things to say, such as, "It (8th symphony) cannot simply be seen as a reaction to Hitler's invasion...I was thinking of other enemies of humanity....Nowadays people like to recall the pre-war period as an idyllic time, saying that everything was fine till Hitler bothered us. Hitler is a criminal, that's clear, but so is Stalin...I haven't forgotten the terrible pre-war years. That is what all my symphonies, beginning with the Fourth, are about."
"I feel eternal pain for those who were killed by Hitler, but I feel no less pain for those killed on Stalin's orders. I suffer for everyone who was tortured, shot, or starved to death. There were millions of them in our country before the war with Hitler began. The war brought much new sorrow and much new destruction, but I haven't forgotten the terrible pre0war years. That is what my symphonies are about , including Number Eight."
Also in his Testimony memoirs, he says:"...the sorrow oppressed and suffocated us. It suffocated me too. I had to write about it. I had to write a Requiem for all those who died , who had suffered. I had to describe the horrible extermination machine and express protest against it. The Seventh and Eighth Symphonies are my Requiems."
In 1948 Shostakovich's 8th Symphony was banned by decree of the Party's Central Committee. After the ban, it wasn't performed again until 1956, post-Stalin.
Shostakovich 8 reflects Shostakovich's view of the world and the drama of the human condition. It is at times agonizing, screaming, sorrowful, tragic, depressing, mundane, chaotic, mocking, grandiose, relentless, shrieking, terrifying, meaningless, angry, monotonous, grieving, violent, brutal, horrific, crushing, desolate, confusing. Any adjective one can think of is depicted here, it seems.
Russian musicologist Marina Sabinina called this symphony "an epic song about war as the cruelest evil that could ever exist." (Although that may be true, we know that to Shostakovich, it was also about the unbearable per-war years under the Stalin regime.)
The first movement is reminiscent of Shostakovich's 5th symphony first movement, but this one is longer and more dramatic, featuring a brutal climax followed by a very long English horn elegy. The second movement is a march-like scherzo based on the opening 3-note theme. The third is another scherzo, with each quarter note in the movement articulated by some instrument or group of instruments. This pulverizing framework is punctuated by screeching woodwinds and militant trumpet solos. The fourth movement is a passacaglia of variations over a repeated bass line. The fourth movement ends in the key of C major, which almost seems like a calming relief. The bassoon solo opening the fifth movement continues in C major. This final movement is highly unusual. It sounds mostly peaceful, or maybe tired or resigned, and it definitely lacks the triumphant quality which was so important to the Stalin regime. It's not exactly happy, but it has moments of whimsical lightness.
BASSOON-RELATED MATTERS:
Bassoonists generally associate Shostakovich Symphony No. 8 with high Eb, since the second iteration of the 5th movement bassoon solo actually begins on high Eb in subito forte. It's unusual to see high Ebs in orchestral bassoon parts; it's even more unusual to see high Eb in bassoon solos, and it's outrageously unusual to see high Ebs in bassoon solos marked forte subito! The standard fingering for high Eb is the same as the high D but with the addition of the high Eb (also known as the F# trill) key. That fingering is quite unreliable on many bassoons, and trying to play it in a subito forte dynamic is ridiculously risky. But there is a MUCH better option, as I recently discovered.
LIFE-CHANGING FINGERING FOR Eb4:
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High Eb
|
My former private bassoon student
Connor Chaffin, now a freshman at Juilliard studying with
Judith LeClair, enlightened me with this hitherto unknown high Eb fingering. This gem of a fingering is featured in
William Short's blog post entitled "Entering the Stratosphere". Because of this fingering, bassoonists' lives will no longer be turned upside down as they seek a Shostakovich 8 reed that reliably initiates high Eb while still sounding magnificently soloist for the rest of the notes.
That's HUGE.😀
Now, getting back to the rest of the symphony: the 2nd movement has some solo passages for 1st bassoon in octaves with contrabassoon which require careful practicing in advance of the first rehearsal. The tempo is around quarter=142, if not faster. These passages may be practiced with a metronome in order to decrease the likelihood of either dragging or rushing in the orchestra, and I always like to practice at many different metronome tempos so that I don't become locked into any particular tempo. For any problem spots, use altered rhythms and fermatas on notes that are causing technical difficulty.
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| Highlighted solo passages from 2nd movement |
Be prepared for the 3rd movement to be very fast. It's usually conducted in one. The quarter notes look easy, but they move along very quickly.
The bassoons play the opening of the 4th movement passacaglia before being tacet for the rest of the movement. The 1st bassoon then begins the long wait for the solo which opens the 5th movement. During this time, it's advisable to make sure there's no moisture in your bocal, and if you're using a reed that favors the high range as I do, it's best to begin using that high reed for the ending of the 3rd movement and for the 4th, so you can trust that it's going to vibrate properly. Then your main job will be simply to keep it moist and ready to play, while checking carefully to see that your bocal is clear of moisture.
Of course your preparation for playing this symphony will include listening to recordings of the piece. Make sure you know what the ending of the 4th movement sounds like as it leads into the 5th movement, where you'll emerge as soloist.
It's hard to know exactly what to think of this somewhat melancholy, almost playful solo, which shows up again, altered and expanded, toward the end of the movement. This is what Shostakovich presents instead of the Soviet-expected triumphant fanfare. Shostakovich may have been offering his version of hope in this movement, from the perspective of one who has lived through the horrors of Stalin and WWII, perhaps. To interpret this lighter 5th movement of Symphony No. 8, it helps to consider what life was like in the Soviet Union during his lifetime, and draw conclusions accordingly. (Additionally, Shostakovich was suffering from gastric typhoid while writing this symphony!!)
Perhaps one way of looking at the bassoon solo is that it might represent a Soviet survivor wandering through the war-torn remains of his country, remembering lost lives, trying to be optimistic, within a context of bleak, unsettling uncertainty. For me, it was a matter of playing through the solos many times to try to eventually intuit the way Shostakovich may have wanted it interpreted.
This is the fifth movement opening solo:
The tempo for this and the corresponding solo near the end of the movement may be a bit fluid, supporting the somewhat whimsical, dreamlike character of the solo. It's conducted in one beat per measure. The bassoon is an instrument that naturally becomes quieter in the higher range, unlike all other instruments. That means that considerable extra effort must be made by the player to bring about the forte dynamic which Shostakovich calls for in the highest part of the solo. It takes a lot of air and a reed that can handle it. When searching for the reed to use for this solo, I eliminated reeds that "cacked" or failed to come through on the high D and high Eb. (That means I eliminated almost every reed!) My bassoon is a 15,000 series Heckel. Some older Heckels and other types of bassoons may have less of a tendency to "cack" in the extreme high range.
Some players of newer Heckel bassoons have trouble reaching the high D and C keys without also hitting the low Bb, B, C and D keys. My solution is to move the bell so that the low Bb is deactivated and to wedge a soft earplug underneath the low B and C keys:
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| Orange earplug inserted under low C key and Bb key deactivated |
There are no low Bbs in the 1st bassoon part to Shostakovich 8, so I leave the low Bb deactivated throughout the symphony. I insert the earplug under the low C key before each of the high solos. (What would happen if I
didn't do that? The notes would still come out, but they'd be altered at random times whenever my left thumb happened to hit one of the low keys accidentally. The pitch could be affected, and the tone quality could change. That's the last thing we need!)
Based on my experience, I recommend that you keep checking and testing your reeds each day when you're rehearsing and performing this piece. Our first rehearsal was on Wednesday, and I found that by Friday and Saturday's concerts, my chosen reed didn't seem quite as remarkable as it seemed on Wednesday. But I thought the changes were weather-related (the temperature and humidity were vacillating wildly) and I was reluctant to take the risk of changing reeds. In retrospect, I wish I'd been more flexible, since after the final performance I discovered that I had other reeds in my reed case that would have been great (and fresh) for the solos. So I learned the hard way not to assume that a chosen reed will remain your best option for 4 consecutive days. 😬 (If only we could have performed it one more time after I made this discovery!!)
A very helpful tip was offered to me by my teacher, K. David Van Hoesen. He said before playing any solo in the high range, it's wise to remove the high D and high C keys from your bassoon (maybe the high A too) in order to clean out the vents with a pipe cleaner. Push the pipe cleaner all the way to the inside of the bore. Afterwards, look into the bore of the bassoon, and you'll likely see residue that came out of the vents. Remove that with a swab (and then WASH the swab!).
Some bassoonists use a special high note bocal for solos like the ones in Shostakovich 8. The only solo I ever use a high note bocal for is for the swan song in Carmina Burana. Other than that, I always use my normal bocal (Heckel CC1) because I like the intonation and sound to be as stable as possible. For high solos including the ones in this post, I prefer to use reeds which favor the high range, with my normal bocal. Sometimes I hear bassoonists talk about how to "make" high reeds....for me, it's more a matter of allowing each reed to show me what it specializes in. Some reeds show themselves to be wonderfully soloistic, while others love the low range. Some reeds sound good in the high range but suck elsewhere. I've learned to accept each reed's inherent characteristics rather then trying to force a reed to be what it's not meant for.
As with any major solo, it's a really good idea to record yourself playing it. That's always a very important part of my preparation. Recording your playing enables you to identify and improve aspects that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Here's a recording of the bassoon solo that opens movement V:
If you used a high reed for the solo, switch back to a normal reed as soon as the opening solo is finished. The bassoons play a series of accompanying quarter notes, some of which are seen below, followed by a brief solo beginning in bar 160, ending on a low C in 164. Next there's an exposed passage (in 2 beats per measure) with other instruments including 2nd bassoon:
Next comes a 1st bassoon solo which is not terribly difficult, but it's conducted in one. It's important to count carefully to come in at the correct time, and metronome practice is beneficial for this also since it's easy to get behind, especially after taking a breath:
Soon after that passage, it's time to switch back to your high reed in preparation for the final bassoon solo. Once again, be sure to listen to enough recordings so that you know exactly where to enter for the final solo:
There's no question that it's challenging to incorporate the magical high Eb fingering (mentioned above). It's definitely
not easy to transition from high Eb to high B! The entire opening phrase of this solo is a technical terror, until the bassoonist takes plenty of time to patiently work it out as smoothly as possible. Lots of slow, careful practice, starting with just that first interval, is called for. Not wanting to risk forgetting the fingering under pressure😟I wrote the fingering in my part, just in case. Like the opening solo, this is conducted in one beat per measure, with a certain amount of flexibility or freedom being acceptable, especially since Shostakovich indicates
ritards and
a tempos (and
animando in the
opening solo
).
This is a recording of the final bassoon solo:
It's a truly epic symphony with bassoon solos like no other. Don't be surprised if you see this on bassoon audition lists!
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