Shostakovich Symphony No5 - Movement 4

Fourth Movement

Returns to the home key of the symphony; D Minor. However it turns from Tonic Minor to Tonic Major at figure 131, this is simlilar to that of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Mahler who have also written symphonies that began in a minor key and ended in a triumphant major.

• Begins with a shrill D Minor opening with full Woodwind and full Brass.
• The third movement has just finished in F# major.
• First idea is split into 3 parts; X, Y and Z.
• X=
• Y=

• Z=
• Timp Ostinato underneath
• Bar 6 - Shrill tonic and dominant chords with no 3rd (Woodwind)
• At Figure 98 and bars following, 2 more melodic ideas are generated.
• Faster tempo drives it
• Repeated Quavers at figure 98 creates moving momentum from the horns
• 2nd melodic at Figure 99 . Parts come from 1e in 1st Movement
• Figure 100 - Tempo increases to create a frantic effect with motoristic quavers
• Bar 20 - Driving semiquaver figuration. March theme in the Tuba - Menace and force
• Figure 101 - Unsettling modulatin and tonality. Implies C minor
• Bar 28-30 - Compared with movement 1 bar 142. Repetitive ostinato rhythms.
• Figure 102 - Upper strings are in octaves and the rhythm almost seems displaced. Excitement is increased by the sequential movement.
• Figure 103 - Variant of the march opening is heard on the flute, oboes and clarinet. Melody passes to a lower reister in strings and bassoons. Flattened Super Tonig…