Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 10

About the work

Shostakovich wrote his First Symphony at eighteen and nineteen as his graduation piece from the Leningrad Conservatory. The premiere under Nikolai Malko in May 1926 made the teenager famous almost overnight. Its four compact movements already carry his fingerprints: a wry march, a circus-tinged scherzo with a prominent piano part, a darkly lyrical slow movement, and a finale famously pivoting on a solo timpani passage. Few symphonic debuts announce a voice this clearly.

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