Tishchenko: Symphony No. 7, Op. 119

Description

Boris Ivanovich Tishchenko (b.1939): Symphony No. 7Often considered the direct heir to the legacy ofShostakovich, Boris Ivanovich Tishchenko was born in Leningrad on 23rd March1939. Studies with Galina Ustvolskaya, a one-time pupil of Shostakovich, and atthe Leningrad Conservatory led to his taking a postgraduate course withShostakovich during the years 1962 to 1965. Active as a pianist, both as asoloist and in chamber music, he has taught at the Leningrad - now once morethe St Petersburg - Conservatory since 1965, becoming a professor there in 1986.With a list of some 130 works to his credit, Tishchenko is aprolific composer who has contributed to all the major genres. Folk and ethnicmusic have both played their part in his thinking, together with composers asdiverse as Monteverdi and Mahler, in an idiom whose undogmatic approach totonal thinking  won him theapproval of Shostakovich early in his career. This is particularly evident inthe Third of his eleven symphonic works (1966), which the older composersingled out for the \richness of its emotions, its clarity of thought and itsstructural logic, and the First Cello Concerto, written for Rostropovich in1963 and re-orchestrated by Shostakovich for more conventional forces in 1969.Such an empathy reached its apogee in the Fourth and Fifth Symphonies, composedbefore and after Shostakovich's death in 1975, where an avowedly publicsymphonism is pursued in impressively large-scale terms. After these Tishchenko turned more to chamber andinstrumental music (he has composed ten piano sonatas and five stringquartets), and choral works, only returning to orchestral symphonic writingwith his Seventh Symphony (1994). The work consists of five movements, arestrained slow movement framed by what might be termed a scherzo andintermezzo, and framed in their turn by substantial outer movements whichexhibit a free though resourceful approach to symphonic form, such as can befound in Shostakovich's later symphonies and string quartets. The first movement of the symphony begins with a fragment onmuted trumpet, alternating with clarinet over pizzicato strings, before violinsintroduce a more wistful idea. These are heard in varied combinations beforethe clarinet idea gravitates to lower strings, then timpani, over which stringsand bassoons pursue a hesitant discussion. Violins and upper woodwind, thenbrass enter as the mood grows more animated, arriving at a lively, rathersardonic dance, then a vigorous fugato dominated by trombone slides. The dancerecommences, culminating in a brief climax based on the violins' wistful idea,which continues as the movement moves back to its beginning, and a decidedlyequivocal conclusion. The second movement opens with a call to attention frombrass, and a vigorous dance to which piano and xylophone make an unexpected butcharacterful contribution. The music builds to a riotous climax, in which thedance is angrily taken apart by timpani and tom-toms. It then continues withsomewhat