I understand why No.12 is a blank spot for many people and I cannot really explain why I have always enjoyed it but I do. I do feel that we can over-think the term "symphony" as though it IS and must be the ultimate form for an orchestra - Mahler has a lot to answer for in sowing that seed! I do feel that within the requirements that Shostakovich had to fulfill he did a good job - clearly helped by the dozens of propaganda films he'd written over the years (its a lot better score than several of those!). Folk don't worked up about the banalities of "Song of the Forests" of "The Fall of Berlin" so don't worry about Symphony No.12 either I say.
PS: a hot buttered crumpet covered in marmite - heaven!!!!
Re Marmite: in Australia it became Vegemite. I remember my first vegemite sandwich as a seven-year-old German immigrant. I liked it. A bit like when you first hear 'Fur Elise'...I simply do not like Vegemite at all now.
By the way, how do you rate the 15th? I've always loved its unique quirkiness, like the utterances of an eccentric man facing death.
Look, I'll give 12 another shot, okay?
I think Nick's reference to 'Marmite' is spot on.
Like Dieter, I used to to rate symphonies 7, 11 & 12 as weak. However, I came to admire No 7 many years ago, not least through hearing Leonard Bernstein's electrifying DG recording. It's true that one has to 'get past' the extended repeated march episode in the first movement; but it's there for a reason. Elsewhere, the score contains a great deal of top-notch Shostakovich.
Number 11 may not have the symphonic profundity of some of his other symphonies but its purpose is to tell a tragic tale in a symphonic way and, over the years, I've come to feel that Shostakovich achieves that in a very fine way.
I had a blind spot about No 12 for many years. Returning to Nick's Marmite analogy, I've never liked Marmite and I thought No 12 was banal. My epiphany came in 2017 when I reviewed a live performance at, of all places, the Three Choirs Festival. Listening to a number of recordings in advance and then experiencing a terrific live performance opened my ears to the work's many qualities. http://seenandheard-international.com/2017/07/a-memorable-commemoration-of-the-russian-revolution-at-the-three-choirs-festival/
That said, I'd still rank No 12 below such masterpieces as numbers 4, 8, 10 & 13.
I doubt I'll ever be reconciled to the Second or Third symphonies.
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