From this point, meno mosso, the F sharp tonality dominates much of that which follows. In a passage of thrilling tensile strength C major is assailed from all sides before being engulfed by an unremitting attack which finally tumbles to three low F sharps. The structure is more easily grasped: from this tempestuous beginning, the music generates greater power and concentration until it seems fit to burst with unmitigated energy.
Within this are Shostakovich’s serial fingerprints, which ran throughout his creative life, in two aspects-the ‘missing’ note, G (dominant of the basic C tonality), and two repeated notes (F sharps, the opposing tonality), confirming that what may appear a welter of noise is to be controlled by individual logic.
The work begins angrily, full of hot-headed impetuosity, with a diverging two-part invention, its fierce chromaticism hiding a genuine eleven-note row. The sonata centres upon C major, with strong pulls to the opposite tonality of F sharp. Shostakovich followed this tempestuous work with ten Aphorisms for piano, Op 13-as though, declaring his genius in the impacted sonata, he needed other formal extremes: almost all are around one minute in duration. The sonata is teeming, iconoclastic, uncompromising-youthful genius at full flood, capable of staggering listeners a century after it was written. Surely instinctive on his part, such tendencies were new in 1925: in the sonata, the nineteen-year-old’s modernity and virtuosity know no bounds. In the symphony, he reveals serial tendencies within broadly tonal frameworks and elements of through-composition. In this group sit Shostakovich’s ‘October’ Sonata and Symphony.īy the time of the first sonata, Shostakovich’s musical language had developed enormously. Both demonstrate some of Shostakovich’s most remarkable compositional traits, and one of his many paradoxes: it would be difficult to cite another composer in the twentieth century whose music is widely known and admired, yet within whose output are undoubted masterpieces that remain unknown. An analysis of the first sonata and second symphony shows they have more than their original titles in common. In another sense, through their shared impetus and inspiration, the original titles point to the singular method of composition each exhibits. The second symphony is referred to today as the ‘October’ Symphony although the original titles are now rarely encountered, they offer clues as to the character of both works. Following the premiere of Op 14, it was clear the original title of the piano work could not stand. In 19 Shostakovich composed two works with similar titles: that which was renamed as his Piano Sonata No 1 was originally termed ‘October’ Symphony, Op 12 an orchestral work, now known as Symphony No 2, Op 14, was premiered entitled To October: a symphonic dedication.