Beethoven Op. 59 No. 1 – Thème russe: Allegro

The final movement of Beethoven’s Op.59 No. 1, in obedience to the request of the commissioner (Count Rasumovsky, the Russian Ambassador to the imperial court), uses a Russian folksong as its first subject. Beethoven’s transformation of this melody from a sad song about a soldier prematurely aged by the rigours of war into a rather sprightly first subject reminded me of Shostakovich’s final response to the rigours of the Second World War: his 9th symphony. Here’s the first movement in a 1945 performance by the Leningrad (then!) Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yevgeny Mravinsky – the orchestra and conductor who gave the symphony its premiere in that year.

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