Dimitri Shostakovich

Quote:

I do see what you mean, organised chaos, very much like Stravinsky before, it's something that my conventional tatse has to adapt to in order to appreciate fully.

We all have conventional tastes to some extent or other. There are some people who can't bear to listen to Benjamin Britten's music because it's too 'modern', while others take Stockhausen in their stride. I'm still trying to educate my own musical tastes, to broaden my own response to music. A good rule of thumb I use is that if a powerful, intelligent piece of music contains elements which seem odd or out of place to me, I take that as a sign that there is a deficiency in my appreciation of the work rather than in the work itself. That rule of thumb has always stood me in good stead.

Quote:

Would I be more correct in claiming that there is a much greater programmatic base in his famous 10th? There is no way that the second movement (which extensively quotes from the 8th- his symphony of sorrow and devastation) has no political weight! There is no shadow of doubt in my mind that this brutal scherzo represents Stalin himself, after all the symphony was composed shortly after his death, and that of Prokofiev's so perhaps there may be some sorrow for his death too...

You've been reading Shostakovich's 'memoirs' (as 'transcribed' by Solomon Volkov), haven't you? It's really not known just how authentic these 'memoirs' actually are. At the time they were published, they were denounced by the Soviet authorities as almost entirely fabricated. Even now, their authenticity has not been established.

By having said that, I think you do have a point. The 2nd movement of his 10th is short, sharp and brutal. You can choose to interpret it as a representation of Stalin, or you could choose to interpret it as a representation of the Nazi invasion of Russia, or you could choose to interpret it as Shostakovich having suffered from a bout of indigestion as he composed it. Does it really matter which 'interpretation' you choose? The music stands on its own merits, as music. Shostakovich never composed 'programmatic' music which has an easy, one-to-one correspondence with reality, and we shouldn't go looking for such programmatic 'meanings' to his music. Music doesn't have to 'mean' anything in that sense.

Volkov, what a pretencious arse he is! He attempts to assert that the Leningrad symphony was completed mostly before the outbreak of the war as an attack on the Soviet authorities (!!!), rather than taking it for what it is, a perfect call to arms to defend the SU against the greater tyranny. I cannot stand what Volkov says and it has been ratified as been "partially correct" by Shostakovich's family.

Quote:

Volkov, what a pretencious arse he is! He attempts to assert that the Leningrad symphony was completed mostly before the outbreak of the war as an attack on the Soviet authorities (!!!), rather than taking it for what it is, a perfect call to arms to defend the SU against the greater tyranny. I cannot stand what Volkov says and it has been ratified as been "partially correct" by Shostakovich's family.

I share your doubts about Volkov. I think his book is at least as tendentious as the official Soviet version of Shostakovich's life and the book has a clear political agenda - to present Shostakovich as a victim of Soviet oppression. Yet there is no mention of the fact that Shostakovich voluntarily joined the Communist Party in the early 60s, or that many of his major works were dedicated to Lenin, or were overtly praising the achievements of Communism.... The reality was probably a complex mixture of the 'official' and the 'Volkov' version of his life. Shostakovich seems to have oscillated between conformity and rebellion throughout his career - his 4th and 'Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk' (modernist and avant-garde) were followed by his 5th (Socialist Realist and conventional); his 9th and 10th (jokey and formalist) were followed by his 11th and 12th (Socialist Realist to their core); and they were followed by his 13th and 14th (subversive and deeply pessimistic works, respectively). In other words, he keeps slipping out of the grasp of the ideologues of both Left and Right, as indeed any great artist should.

Sounds pretty cool. can i have a link to a non-bittorent site?

Quote:

Sounds pretty cool. can i have a link to a non-bittorent site?

Try Limewire (http://www.limewire.com/english/content/home.shtml). It's a file-sharing program; you should be able to find Shostakovich music files on that. But Bittorrent is better - the files are less likely to contain viruses or trojans, and it's faster.

Do you not like the slow, commemorative ending to his 8th symphony? That is one of Shosty's shorter movements (symph. #10 movt 2) and as a result is hard to understand unless you look at movements 1 and 2, do you like those two, or do you just like the brutal scherzos that Shostakovich mastered?

Hey, just got limwire and it's awesome!! I can finally find songs and such!!!! THANK YOU POTEMKIN!! you are my hero!!!

Quote:

Hey, just got limwire and it's awesome!! I can finally find songs and such!!!! THANK YOU POTEMKIN!! you are my hero!!!

Glad to be of help, Comrade Sergei. But just remember:

GOOD!! Downloading communism is a noble pursuit.
One of the first things i got with limewire was the Beatles "Back in the USSR". Now that's a classic. a horrendously cool song, and a perfect one for me.

Quote:

That's a classic picture.

...and so is this:

Interesting. it would be cool if computers came with coin slots. not that i'd ever use it, of course.

Quote:

Interesting. it would be cool if computers came with coin slots. not that i'd ever use it, of course.

Um... yes.

Weee, I just download his 8th Symphony and 11th Symphony using bittorrent.

It might be noted that the BBC Proms this year, are thankfully including 3 of his symphonies in the proceedings...his 8th, 10th and 11th.

But it would be cool! you putn a coin in to pay for stuff, break your computer open and take the coin out, and then put it back in to pay for more stuff!

I can't stand listening to these long symphonies. I get distracted and all. Is there a short clip of the good parts I can listen to?