NSO Play Weekend - Shostakovich 'Symphony No 4'

1 September 2025

Shortly after I joined Northampton Symphony Orchestra (NSO), in 2000, the orchestra ran a great one-day workshop with members of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra on 'An Alpine Symphony' by Richard Strauss. I have since taken part in several similar workshops organised by Milton Keynes Sinfonia (reviewed here). These 'play-days' provide the opportunity to tackle a work that the orchestra would not normally be able to perform in a concert - because of its scale, complexity and the additional players needed. They are also very sociable occasions, bringing together the orchestra and guest players to practice, eat together and chat, usually finishing with a full performance of the piece. 

 

Last weekend the NSO ran its first Play Weekend - a two-day workshop on Dimitri Shostakovich's 'Symphony No 4' - for which we gathered a massive orchestra of 120 people. Like most of my NSO colleagues I have played the much more famous 5th Symphony several times (most recently with NSO, reviewed here in November 2016) and a few of Shostakovich's other symphonies but I had never even heard the 4th before. In 1936, when Shostakovich's opera 'Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk' (described by Pravda as “muddle instead of music”) was banned, apparently at Stalin's behest, the composer assumed it was only a matter of time before he would be forced to surrender his life. His 'Symphony No 4', which was then in rehearsal for its first performance, was quickly withdrawn. Instead Shostakovich produced 'Symphony No 5', subtitled ‘A Soviet Artist's Response to Just Criticism’ - a stunningly powerful symphony that appeared to conform to the Soviet state's requirements for triumphalist music (though with many cleverly concealed elements that provide a cynical sting in the tail). The 4th Symphony didn't receive its premiere until 1961. [The Origin Story podcast recently produced an episode on 'Shostakovich and Stalin – The Composer and the Dictator' which gives an overview of Shostakovich’s life in a clear, accessible way - reviewed here in August 2025.]

 

'Symphony No 4' is a long, complex piece. At first it feels brutal, angry, strident and quite difficult to listen to. But as I have got to know it better over the past few weeks it has really grown on me. It's a fascinating work full of contrasts and contradictions, with moments of gentle beauty, lyricism and playfulness alongside its terrifying sheer power. Beginning to appreciate its homage to the symphonies of Gustav Mahler, and Shostakovich's reverence for JS Bach, helped me make more sense of its structure and themes. Above all, you need to think about the context of Stalin's Soviet Union to understand both the angst and the occasional whimsy of the music and I was grateful to have read 'The Noise of Time' by Julian Barnes (reviewed here in March 2016) which outlines how Shostakovich found himself a reluctant collaborator with Stalin's regime.

 

The NSO Play Weekend attracted guest musicians from far afield, including players from Newcastle, Norwich and Shrewsbury and one of my fellow horn players who was visiting the UK from Kentucky. It was wonderful to be part of a powerful section of 9 horn players. It was also lovely to see several former NSO members rejoining us for the weekend. I found it a really enjoyable experience - a great mixture of challenging music-making, alongside excellent food and a very friendly atmosphere. Congratulations to everyone involved in organising the weekend - a huge and complicated event which was ingeniously designed and went incredibly smoothly. 

 

There were so many outstanding performances across the orchestra it would be risky to try to name them all for fear of missing some. I particularly enjoyed the 'ticking clock' percussion at the end of the middle movement, the great use of duetting tubas, and the double sets of timpani at the climax of the last movement. But the standout for me was our principal bassoon Sian Bunker, returning to the orchestra after a break, who sounded fantastic in the symphony's many bassoon solos.

 

Our full performance of the symphony on Sunday afternoon felt truly epic and emotional. Being part of such a huge collective endeavour - as one member of a team of 120 people - was very special. NSO Conductor John Gibbons expertly guided us through an impressive rendition of the piece which may have included a few mistakes but avoided any major pitfalls and held together well through its full 65 minutes. Afterwards many of the wind and brass players admitted they were holding their breath while the strings played the impossibly challenging lengthy frantic fugue passage, but it went amazingly well - a real triumph of concentration and counting.

 

The climax of the final movement was a thrilling moment of brilliance but its quiet surrender to the gentle melancholic ending of the symphony was truly stunning. In 'The Noise of Time' Julian Barnes talks about Shostakovich's use of the musical instruction 'morendo' (dying away), pointing out that "few composers finish their lives with a major chord played fortissimo". The long silence that John Gibbons held, following the final quiet chord of the 4th Symphony, was poignant and devastating. I felt proud of what we had achieved, in awe of Shostakovich and utterly exhausted. I can't wait for the next NSO Play Weekend.