At first glance, these two symphonies seem mismatched: what is the point of pairing the youthful, experimental Symphony No. 2 with the mature and substantial Symphony No. 15? The dark sound world Shostakovich flirted with in the Second's opening movement anticipates many later works, and some of the fragmentary ideas that pop out of this churning mass remained a part of Shostakovich's vocabulary throughout his life. Despite the forced proletarian chorus, the germinal nature of the Symphony No. 2 becomes apparent when it is ...
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At first glance, these two symphonies seem mismatched: what is the point of pairing the youthful, experimental Symphony No. 2 with the mature and substantial Symphony No. 15? The dark sound world Shostakovich flirted with in the Second's opening movement anticipates many later works, and some of the fragmentary ideas that pop out of this churning mass remained a part of Shostakovich's vocabulary throughout his life. Despite the forced proletarian chorus, the germinal nature of the Symphony No. 2 becomes apparent when it is compared to the later symphonies. The Symphony No. 15 doesn't suffer from the Second's unfortunate rhetoric, and structurally, it follows symphonic form in a very transparent manner. Yet this is one of Shostakovich's most cryptic essays, as enigmatic through personal symbolism and habitual secrecy as the Second is vague through political necessity. Although the brittle playfulness and toy-shop antics in the first and third movements might suggest an old man's ironic recollections of...
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