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In the Forum: Horn-Loaded Speakers
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Post Subject: Shostakovich 8 3rd Movement AllegroPosted by rowuk on: 5/19/2026
I understand this movement as a war machine. Probably not Hitlers (this is too fast to goose step to!), rather Stalins. The machine starts with fast quarter notes played marcatissimo by the strings. You can hear and feel the machine dragging (or perhaps even grinding down) society. Then the screaming of the high winds and a bit of trumpet add more weight to the pain. In measure 171, the quarter note pattern is divided up between the winds on beat 1 and 2 and the strings on beat 3 and 4 - the machine is getting more selective! Measure 198, the meat grinding machine returns to the strings with the brass group hammering away on beat 3.
Measure 275 starts a new theme for a solo trumpet, very clearly (to me) the infantry marching in and out with ascending and descending (slavic) scales and fanfares. In my view, this is not "beautiful" and needs to be played like the infantry moving in and out. A large crescendo when ascending and large decrescendo when descending. The notes should be short and accented.
The WDR/Bychkov reading has a modern german trumpeter making everything flow, the articulation and dynamics are "safe". His sound is effortless. That would be fine for Mahler but certainly not this. He is never about to be sent to a gulag for not reaching the musics intentions. This is very typical for modern brass players - keep it safe. Some of the problem however is his choice of equipment. The modern rotary valved C-Trumpet has a "creamy" sound and is almost impossible to get any "brutality" out of it. We need to know that the modern professional trumpeter has many instruments in their collection. If we need specific "color" to our play, the instrument can make this easy - or hard. I am convinced that this trumpeter did not spend any time thinking about the artistic nuance. He just got all of the notes. Perhaps Bychkov should threaten to send him to Mariopol.
What did I think about? War machine and infantry. Rape and pillage. The trumpet solo at measure 275 is exactly that: we are the whole story with just a bit of oom-pah accompaniment. If we do not play with abandon, there is nothing left. Lots of trumpet overtones (this happens when we play at the horns acoustical limit). Short notes with a heavy accent. Vibrato. We need all of the energy that the rest of the orchestra had before measure 275.
About the last performance where I played this: During rehearsals, the conductor was thinking about what encore that we could play at the end. As brass group section leader, I stood up and said: "if anyone in this orchestra has any energy, soul or capacity for more after the Shostakovich last movement, they did not do their job correctly. I will not be able to play an encore. Send the audience home the way they are."
Here is the 1943 score for reference:https://imslp.tw/uploads/PMLASIA00845-shostakovich_cwmg_v4-2.pdfRerurn to Romy the Cat's Site