Symphony No. 1

Dedication: Mikhail Vladimirovich Kvadri

Duration: 33'

Premiere: May 12, 1926 in the Great Hall of the Leningrad Philharmonia. Performed by the Symphony Orchestra of the Leningrad Philharmonia. Conductor N. Malko.
Premieres abroad:
November 22, 1927 Berlin. Conductor Bruno Walter.
November 2, 1928 Philadelphia. Conductor L. Stokowski.
December 26, 1930 Chicago. Conductor F. Stock.
April 8, 1931 New York. Conductor А. Toscanini.

Symphony No 1

op. 10

1. Allegretto—Allegro non troppo
2. Allegro
3. Lento—Largo attaca
4. Lento—Allegro molto—Adagio—Largo—Presto

Shostakovich finished his First Symphony, Op. 10, in the summer of 1925 and presented it as his graduation thesis upon completion of the composition theory course at the conservatory. The fair copy of the author’s manuscript1 was dated (on the last page) 1 July 1925.

At the beginning of December 1924, the first two movements of the symphony were ready.

Shostakovich did not begin composing the slow movement any earlier than mid-December. On 14 December, the composer told Oborin: “Now I am getting ready to start the Andante, but I don’t have enough inspiration as yet,” and on 15 January 1925, he wrote: “I have finished the symphonic Andante. Now the finale remains”.

After completion of the third movement, there was a long break. He did not tell Oborin about beginning work on the finale until 17 April.

By the beginning of May, the finale was ready.

On 6 May 1925, the symphony was performed on two pianos by the composer and his fellow student Pavel Feldt at an exam for M.O. Steinberg’s class in the office of the conservatory rector, Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov.

On 12 May 1926, the premiere of the symphony took place in the Grand Hall of the Leningrad Philharmonic. The symphony orchestra of the Leningrad Philharmonic was conducted by Nikolai Malko. The symphony was extremely successful, and at the audience’s request, the second movement of the symphony was played again.

Recordings:

- Philadelphia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski. 1933 // Victor 7884-8S 
- Cleveland Orchestra, Artur Rodzinski. 1941 // Columbia 11622-5D
- NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini. 1944 // RCA LM 6711 (1976)
- Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, Kirill Kondrashin. 1951 // MK 020617-24
- USSR (State) Symphony Orchestra, Gennady Rozhdestvensky. 1962 // Yedang Classics YCC 0098 (2003).
- USSR Symphony Orchestra, Yevgeni Svetlanov. 1968 // Melodiya C10 12543-4 (1980).
- London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bernard Haitink. 1979 // Decca SXDL 7515 (1981)
- Berlin City Symphony Orchestra, Kurt Sanderling. 1983 // Eterna 7 29 221 (DMM)
- USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra, Gennady Rozhdestvensky // Melodiya A10 00101 005 (1984)
- Scottish National Orchestra, Neeme Järvi. 1984 // Chandos ABRD 1148 (1986).
- BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra, Mariss Jansons // BBC Records REN 637X
- Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein. 1988 // Deutsche Grammophon 427 632-2GH2 (1990)
- Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy. 1988 // Decca 425 609-2DH (1990)
- Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Georg Solti. 1991 // Decca 436 469-2DH (1992)
- Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Fedoseyev. 1992 // Musica Classics 780003-2 (1996)
- National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, Mstislav Rostropovich. 1993 // Teldec 4509 90849-2 (1994)
- St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Yuri Temirkanov. 1996 // RCA Red Seal 09026 68844-2 (1999)
- Prague Symphony Orchestra, Maksim Shostakovich. 1999 // Supraphon SU 38902 (2006)
- Russian National Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski. 2004 // PentaTone classics PTC 5186 068 (2006)
- Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Simon Rattle. 2005 // EMI Classics 3580772 (2006)