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The Fourth Symphony was written in 1935-1936.1 Its premiere was scheduled for 11 December 1936. The rehearsals began under the supervision of Fritz Stiedry, who directed the Symphonic Orchestra of the Leningrad Philharmonic at that time. But after two rehearsals, Shostakovich removed the symphony from the repertoire on Director of the Leningrad Philharmonic Renzin’s insistence, who, not wishing to resort to administrative measures, had asked the author to remove the symphony from the repertoire himself.

The whereabouts of the author’s manuscript of the score to the Fourth Symphony is unknown. During the second half of the 1930s, conductor Alexander Gauk had the author’s manuscript (he also had the author’s manuscripts of the scores to the Fifth and Sixth symphonies). Later, Gauk told Shostakovich that the suitcase with these manuscripts had been stolen during the journey. For Shostakovich the score was considered lost. The score was restored in keeping with the original orchestra parts on the initiative of Levon Atovmian by the librarian of the Music Library of the Leningrad State Philharmonic, B.G. Shalman. The only copy of the restored manuscript score was kept in the same library. Conductor Kirill Kondrashin, who was asked to perform the symphony in 1961, at first had to acquaint himself with it from the glass duplicated edition (1946) of the arrangement for two pianos. During a meeting about the proposed premier, Shostakovich said: “Please give me the four-hand arrangement. My original score has been lost, the copy is in Leningrad. I have forgotten a great deal in this symphony and must look at it.” The score copy restored by Shalman, according to which the premiere was performed, apparently also became the basis for the first publication of the Fourth Symphony (Sovetsky kompositor Publishers, Moscow, 1962).

Instrumentation:
2 Piccolos, 4 Flutes, 4 Oboes (IV = Cor Anglais), E flat Clarinet, 4 Clarinets (B flat and A), Bass clarinet, 3 Bassoons, Contrabassoon, 8 Horns, 4 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, 2 Tubas, 6 Timpani (2 Players), Triangle, Castanets, Wood block, Side drum, Cymbals (2 Players—I with drumsticks and II normal mode), Bass drum, Gong, Glockenspiel, Xylophone, Celesta, 2 Harps, Strings

This ambitious series by DSCH, the exclusive publisher of the works of Dmitri Shostakovich, when complete, will run to 150 volumes.

Based on authentic manuscripts, accompanied by commentaries in Russian and in English, each volume contains new engravings, articles relating to the history of the compositions, facsimile pages of Shostakovich's manuscripts, outlines, and rough drafts.

Divided into 15 different "series" or genres, the edition will include nearly all the original works of the composer, and his instrumentation of music by Domenico Scarlatti, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Johann Strauss, Youmans, Braga, Tishchenko, and others.

25% of the New Collected Works will be made up of previously unpublished material: over 80 of his works are being published here for the first time. Many of these previously unknown works could not be published or performed during the composer's lifetime for ideological reasons.

The fifteen "series" within the edition comprise:
I: Symphonies (vols 1-30)
II: Orchestra Compositions (vols 31-37)
III: Instrumental Concertos (vols 38-49)
IV: Compositions for the Stage (vols 50-67)
V: Suites from Operas and Ballets (vols 68-72)
VI: Compositions for Choir and Orchestra (With or Without Soloists) (vols 73-83)
VII: Unaccompanied Choral Compositions/Arrangements of Russian Folksongs (vols 84-86)
VIII: Compositions for Solo Voice(S) With Orchestra (vols 87-90)
IX: Chamber Compositions for Voice and Songs (vols 91-97)
X: Chamber Instrumental Ensembles (vols 98-105)
XI: Instrumental Sonatas(vols 106-108)
XII: Piano Compositions (vols 109-115)
XIII: Incidental Music (vols 116-121)
XIV: Film Music (vols 122-145)
XV: The Works of Other Composers, Instrumentation by Shostakovich (vols 146-150)