Music
The work has five movements, the last three played without interruption:
- Allegro
- Moderato
- Presto
- Largo
- Allegretto - Allegro
A typical performance lasts for around 26 minutes, which makes this symphony one of the shortest by Shostakovich. (Only his Second is shorter.)
The symphony is scored for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, triangle, tambourine and strings.
The symphony is a playful and vivid musical work, with a neo-classical air that has led to comparisons to Haydn's symphonies and to Prokofiev's Classical Symphony. Shostakovich himself considered it "a joyful little piece".
Read more about this topic: Symphony No. 9 (Shostakovich)
Famous quotes containing the word music:
“I used to be angry all the time and I’d sit there weaving my anger. Now I’m not angry. I sit there hearing the sounds outside, the sounds in the room, the sounds of the treadles and heddles—a music of my own making.”
—Bhakti Ziek (b. c. 1946)
“The time was once, when thou unurged wouldst vow
That never words were music to thine ear,
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That never meat sweet-savored in thy taste,
Unless I spake, or looked, or touched, or carved to thee.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Orpheus with his lute made trees
And the mountain tops that freeze
Bow themselves when he did sing.
To his music plants and flowers
Ever sprung, as sun and showers
There had made a lasting spring.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)