Score

Explore >

Shostakovich: Symphony Number 5
4th Movement - The Final March

Shostakovich ended his symphony with a march, a guaranteed Stalin favorite. But the score reveals details that may suggest a less-than celebratory finale.

AIR-DATE
October 2009

COMMENTS
5

TAGS
Score, Shostakovich, Russia

Explore >

Shostakovich: Symphony Number 5
3rd Movement - Slow Movement Pathos

With the slow movement, a composer has the opportunity to change the emotions of the symphony yet again. At the Fifth Symphony’s premiere, many thought Shostakovich used this opportunity to expresses a deep sense of mourning. If so, whom or what has been lost?

AIR-DATE
October 2009

COMMENTS
0

TAGS
Score

Explore >

Shostakovich: Symphony Number 5
2nd Movement - A Musical Joke?

Literally meaning ‘joke,’ the scherzo has often been a place where composers feel free to have some fun. Given the circumstances, does Shostakovich dare joke? And if so, about what and with whom is he joking?

AIR-DATE
October 2009

COMMENTS
0

TAGS
Score, Shostakovich, Russia

Explore >

Shostakovich: Symphony Number 5
1st Movement - An Altered Folk Song

The score contains musical clues that can help us decipher Shostakovich’s intentions.

AIR-DATE
October 2009

COMMENTS
0

TAGS
Score, Shostakovich, Russia

Explore >

Shostakovich: Symphony Number 5
1st Movement - A Telling Opening Theme

Composers often build first themes from pregnant filled with possibilities for what the symphony is about. What can we learn from the motives that comprise Shostakovich’s first theme?

AIR-DATE
October 2009

COMMENTS
1

TAGS
Score, Shostakovich, Russia

Explore >

Beethoven: Symphony No. 3, 'Eroica'
IV. Finale: Allegro molto

Six excerpts to the triumphant Fourth movement. Here we have Beethoven the showman, the ultimate improviser who can turn even the most inconsequential of themes into the basis for a masterwork.

AIR-DATE
October 2006

COMMENTS
1

TAGS
Score, Beethoven, Eroica

Explore >

Beethoven: Symphony No. 3, 'Eroica'
III. Scherzo: Allegro vivace

The Third movement is all about play, as can be seen and heard in two short excerpts. Amidst the abundance of the fields and vineyards, Beethoven composes his own harvest of joy and affirmation, a renewed embrace of life in all its richness and mystery.

AIR-DATE
October 2006

COMMENTS
0

TAGS
Score, pastoral, Beethoven, Eroica

Explore >

Beethoven: Symphony No. 3, 'Eroica'
II. Marcia funebre: Adagio assai

The moving second movement is shown in four annotated interactive excerpts. This “Funeral March” is a powerful musical evocation of the massive state funerals of the French Revolution. As we see the procession pass before us we ask ourselves the question, “who has really died here?”

AIR-DATE
October 2006

COMMENTS
0

TAGS
Score, march, funeral, Beethoven, Eroica

Explore >

Beethoven: Symphony No. 3, 'Eroica'
I. Allegro con brio

Excerpts of the score to Beethoven’s Eroica with video notations in the score, and explorations of theme and Beethoven’s use of key. Five excerpts present critical moments in the first movement.

AIR-DATE
October 2006

COMMENTS
6

TAGS
Score, Beethoven, Eroica

Explore >

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4
4th Movement

The Finale is a culmination of the emotional scenarios in the three preceding movements. An individual has felt isolation in a crowd, but can still find gratification from the people around him. The dynamic between loneliness and fulfillment is both a universal human condition and a reflection of the deepest conflict in Tchaikovsky’s own life.

AIR-DATE
June 2004

COMMENTS
1

TAGS
Score, Russia, Tchaikovsky