A constant problem with Shostakovich is that his own remarks should never be taken at face value, for he notoriously said what people wanted to hear ... the post-Beethoven Romantic symphony, opening in conflict and arriving at a triumphant apotheosis, certainly allows an orthodox interpretation of the symphony as a description of the creation of Soviet Man, and it was in these terms that Shostakovich spoke of it at the time: “I saw man with all his experiences in the centre of the composition … In the finale, the tragically tense impulses of the earlier movements are resolved in optimism and joy of living”. But in Testimony, the reminiscences attributed by Solomon Volkov to the sick and embittered composer towards the end of his life, this is all turned upside-down. “I think that it is clear to everyone what happens in the Fifth … it’s as if someone were beating you with a stick and saying ‘Your business is rejoicing, your business is rejoicing’, and you rise, shakily, and go off muttering ‘Our business is rejoicing, our business is rejoicing’.”
Andrew Huth, on Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5
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