Shostakovich: Two Pieces for String Octet, Op.11 (1924-5)
Präludium:- Adagio – Più mosso – Adagio
Scherzo:- Allegro molto
The most substantial product of Shostakovich’s earliest years as a composer were these two pieces – composed separately but published together. Although chamber music by definition, they are conceived on an almost orchestral scale – shades of Mendelssohn’s entreaty that his octet should be “played by all the instruments in symphonic orchestral style”….? (there is indeed an augmented version of Op.11 for string orchestra). As with the more famous Symphony No.1, they were composed while still a teenage student at the Leningrad Conservatoire: the Prelude (in D minor) dating from December 1924, with the G minor scherzo following seven months later. They were dedicated to his friend, the poet Volodya Kurchavov, and were given their first performance at a concert in the Mozart Hall, Moscow, on 9 January 1927, when the composer also premiered his first piano sonata. The latter proved to be one of the most harmonically adventurous of all his compositions, yet the Octet Scherzo is not far behind in this respect. There is little of the relentless aggression found in some of the later scherzi, but instead a high spirited, thoroughly reckless scrubbing match, in which all involved can relish with abandon the excruciating (but hilarious) dissonance which abounds. The preceding Prelude employs a rather more “safe” language; cast in simple ternary form, at its centre lies a passage featuring quick staccato bowing – the only real allusion here to the world of Mendelssohn and his own youthful octet. At its climax a series of declamatory chords breaks in: since these were used to launch the movement they can now serve – together with brilliant, impassioned solo violin flourishes – as a convenient link with the original Adagio music, which itself had earlier presented solo opportunities to most of the players. A particularly atmospheric idea – involving triadic triplet lines wafting over a melancholy solo viola melody – is now thickened to bring the piece to rest. But not for long!
© Alan George
