Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47
by Dmitri Shostakovich
Premiered on 21 November 1937 by the Leningrad Philharmonic under Yevgeny Mravinsky, Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony was born of crisis: after the 1936 Pravda denunciation of his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, the composer responded with a work the Soviet press chose to describe as 'a Soviet artist's creative reply to just criticism.' Whether the symphony represents genuine contrition or subversive irony remains one of musicology's great debates. The massive first movement's sonata structure unfolds under extreme psychological pressure; the sardonic Scherzo is a grotesque march; the profoundly searching Largo is widely considered Shostakovich's most heartfelt orchestral utterance; and the finale's forced, brassy D major triumph has been interpreted both as triumphant resolution and as a coerced smile. The work became instantly iconic and remains one of the most performed symphonies of the twentieth century.
Editions
Muzgiz
Editorial staff, 1939
Original Soviet state publishing house edition; the historical source text used at the 1937 premiere.
Sikorski
Editorial staff, 1972
Standard Western performing edition; widely distributed for professional orchestral use in Europe and the Americas.
Eulenburg
Krzysztof Meyer, 1994
Pocket score with analytical preface by Shostakovich scholar Krzysztof Meyer; the preferred study score.