shostakovich

try symphony 7, the march section is famous for depicting the germans inexorable creep towards petersburg.

or the string quartets. best example of a 20th cent composer playing by 19th century rules and equalling the masters [in this case beethoven's quartets]

if you're looking for something similar to the much maligned jazz suite try either piano concerto no 2 or the ballets.

(haha the second cello concerto has a big orchetral thump in it which makes the record jump its groove!!)

it was too "light music" for people who think 20th century composers should be heavy duty concepty philosopher kings, it was perceived by the jazz crit world [during the 3rd stream era, 1950s] as outtatouch or half assed trend-borrowing compared to say american in paris [gershwin] or the petitdreigroschenoper arrangements [weill]; and the communists were of course appalled but for their own ideological reasons...

which album?

Does rating Shostakovich seem a little out of place here?

complete string quartets
symphonies 5,7,10
Preludes and Fugues
Violin Concerto No. 1

thanks for the other leads, this is someone i tried to check out when I was younger and it didn't click, but it's time now...

during a recent club dj set I noticed the opening movement is in the same key as the second movement of Paul Dolden's 'veils'. was great.

I only know the symphonies well, of which I personally like all but no.7, which I'm heartily sick of. The Fitzwilliam Qt. set on Decca is meant to be one of the definitive cycles of the qts.

so is much of the 5th symphony, though one could debate forever about whether that was the point or not

so what's the best first book to read about shostakovich?

I think he's in The Rest is Noise

I bought the Naxos recording of his Leningrad symphony. It is amazingly good stuff. To be honest, part of the resonance comes from imagining it being blasted out at the Nezis from loudspeakers, the proud cry of a besieged city. I have picked up the idea somewhere that many people see this symphony as patriotic kitsch... but these people are wrong, this is one of the great works of the 20th century.

I now want to get the symphony that was billed by Shosty as "an artist's response to justified criticism", or "please do not send me to Siberia".

I'm reading this Vollman novel now that's about 30% about Shostakovich & his struggles with the state/party. Really interesting but man why is it so many novelists think they rule at writing about music when it's actually a specialized skill that doesn't automatically come with being a good writer

many people see this symphony as patriotic kitsch...

eg when bartok quotes it in 'concerto for orchestra' and concludes with a bronx cheer on the horns

Vollman thinks he excels at writing everything, which is only about half-true. He really excels at writing about prostitutes and insurgent millitants, though.

Re: Shostakovich, is there a recording of his complete String Quartets generally conceded as the standard? On a par with Emerson SQ's Bartok cycle...

Since I love/hate/fixate on Vollmann and love Shostakovich, it's inevitable that I'll read the novel j0hn mentions.

The string quartets: most critics rep for the earlier cycle recorded by the Borodin Quartet, now available affordably in a box from Chandos. When they recorded this cycle, the last two string quartets had not been written, so the box only has SQs 1-13. Sound is decent but lacks some high end. The Borodins rerecorded the cycle including 14 and 15; this has bounced around labels, sometimes available from EMI, sometimes Melodiya. it was usually cited as first choice before their earlier cycle was reissued.

For a more recent version, the only cycle I have seen much consensus for is the cycle in progress by the Sorrel Quartet. I have three installments of it and can vouch that it's emotive, gutsy playing that's not afraid to get up in yr face. Sound is fantastic. Do not be misled that they're British and have a pastoral-sounding name.

I think the Leningrad symphony is the best of what I've heard. Every movement is outstanding, the adagio especially is up there with Mahler at his most achingly beautiful. In terms of a discrete piece that has been overlooked, the third movement of the 1st violin concerto really deserves mention. It almost sounds like it might have been an influence on later Radiohead - there's that towering "Pyramid Song" feel to it, but that may be pseudery.

Okay, the 1st sym is quickly breaking down my anti-Shosty bias.

I saw the London Symphony Orchestra with Bernard Haitink (who is 85 YEARS OLD!) perform the 15th Symphony last night at Lincoln Center. As a former tuba player I relished the frequent chamber-like low-brass spotlights, and the long passages of relative quietude and reflectiveness throughout the work were both beautiful and tense. I'm a sucker for thick, slow, unpredictably shifting heavily chromatic music--that "watching time-lapse photography of colossal geological events" kind of sound--and this symphony offered a lot of that to bathe in. It was extra-awesome to see an 85-year-old man conduct so energetically and authoritatively, too.

Surprised there's so little mention of the 4th Symphony here, there's a chord at some point in the first movement that is about as close to a blast of white noise as you could make with an orchestra in the 1930s. I don't know whether the stories of its first rehearsal, with the orchestra playing ashen-faced in feat, are actually true, but I can well imagine.

Been listening to the 24 piano preludes/fugues a lot lately -- great stuff, almost picks up where Bach left off.

Dusting off the Preludes & Fugues myself just now (part of a broader solo-piano binge) & yeah, every bit as good as I remember, from the charmingly jazzy opening to the apocalyptic finale

Oh btw, can anyone point me to some good critical/musicological writing on the fugue cycle?

I was out walking after a few glasses of wine with the earphones on and was absolutely shook by Violin Concertos no 1, it was a genuine level 1 musical ecstasy moment. I had a massive love affair with Prokofiev's Violin Concertos a few years back and they have similar qualities apart from the frenetic brilliance of the 2nd "demonic dance" movement. I bet even the miserable cloth eared Bolsheviks that purged Shostakovich for "western formalism" would have secretly loved this shit.

shostakovich symphony 15 is so great

boulez' snobbery is a lot of fun usually though completely wrong in the case of dsch

xp xelab do you know which recording it was?

Mravinsky, Leningrad Philharmonic.

thanks! I'll check it out.

Oh btw, can anyone point me to some good critical/musicological writing on the fugue cycle?

The liner notes on with the ECM/Keith Jarrett version are extensive.

I might have to check that out; I've got the cheapo Naxos edition of the fugues (quite admirably performed by Konstantin Scherbakov) & it's one of my favorite anythings ever

... oh I missed that the post you were responding to was my own v_v

Tatiana Nikolayeva unfortunately nearly died while playing this piece in concert. I love comparing the different versions, as much as comparing Goldberg Variations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLzC9WY9KNk

Oh, and from the Wikipedia link above:
In 1950 Nikolayeva gained prominence by winning the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition, part of the bicentennial marking Bach's death. More importantly, she met Dmitri Shostakovich at the competition, leading to a lifelong friendship, and was chosen as a first performer of Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues. Nikolayeva made three complete recordings of the cycle.

"Muddle Not Music"
"tickling the perverted taste of the bourgeoisie with its fidgety, screaming neurotic music"

string quartet 8... fuckin' goes man

If you haven't already, do check out the Borodin Quartet's 1962 and 1978 recordings for the full harrowing experience.

1978: https://open.spotify.com/album/1NkUt0fKRxvJMepmt5s0dE

1962: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJsf-WqfdIE

I can't

I find the whole DSCH thing so cheesy, same as when it chokes out Symph 10:iii

Do you pronounce it as ‘douche’?

No, I could never, I love Dmitri

And I love it when composers get representative, just not when they "sign their name". I'm curious actually, the only two instances I know of this are DSCH and BACH. And now I just googled it and https://www.kusc.org/culture/arts-alive-blog/musical-cryptograms/ apparently Robert Schumann, Alban Berg and Schoenberg did it, too. I know Messaien enjoyed spelling stuff out in his organ work but it always felt more meditative than somebody ruining a perfectly good snowbank with their pee stream.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_cryptogram

Hold up there is a whole dumptruck filled with this stuff. I had no idea.

Heard cello concerto no 2 in concert recently, instantly became a favourite.

Hold up there is a whole dumptruck filled with this stuff. I had no idea.

I heard Shosty's 8th SQ and his 10th Symphony before reading up on his use of the DSCH motif, so it didn't mar my encounter with his music. Had it occurred the other way around, perhaps I'd be mildly annoyed as well.

I think I also just never really think of Eb as "S" or B as "H" tbh. If I spoke German, maybe it would annoy?

That also helps.

Solfège is used in cryptograms, too, apparently. Mi (E) - C - H (B) - A - E - La (A) is a nice melody for a Michael, I guess

i like the dsch thing, it gives me something to latch onto, and it's a haunting melody when done properly. i also can't imagine letting that little thing mar works as brilliant as quartet no. 8 and sym. no. 10.

10:iii is a musical depiction of Dmitri creeping on his crush Elmira and screaming his name in her face, cannot do it

This is why context is bad, sometimes.

Horns: E - La (A) - Mi (E) - Re (D) - A....

Strings: DSCH! DSCH! DSCH! DSCH!