Shostakovich 15

[Nick Armstrong]

It's been talked about a lot in various places in the Forum, and is a piece close to my heart - the first piece of orchestral music I discovered and 'got into' under my own steam, in my teens.

The ubiquitous Tom Service offers an introduction to the work in the Guardian, with a couple of youtube performances (the first movement by Maxim S and the Moscow Radio Orchestra, and a complete performance by Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra):

http://www.theguardian.com/music/tomserviceblog/2013/sep/23/symphony-guide-shostakovich-15-tom-service

The thought that made me start is the last one:

"David Lynch made Blue Velvet heavily under the influence of this symphony."


I had no idea... but it seems so

http://hannahlamarque.wordpress.com/2012/06/23/httpwww-youtube-comwatchvannxcakkcr0/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ve...k)#cite_note-2

[Beef Oven!]

It's been talked about a lot in various places in the Forum, and is a piece close to my heart - the first piece of orchestral music I discovered and 'got into' under my own steam, in my teens.

The ubiquitous Tom Service offers an introduction to the work in the Guardian, with a couple of youtube performances (the first movement by Maxim S and teh Moscow Radio Orchestra, and a complete performance by Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra):

http://www.theguardian.com/music/tomserviceblog/2013/sep/23/symphony-guide-shostakovich-15-tom-service

The thought that made me start is the last one:

"David Lynch made Blue Velvet heavily under the influence of this symphony."


I had no idea... but it seems so

http://hannahlamarque.wordpress.com/2012/06/23/httpwww-youtube-comwatchvannxcakkcr0/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ve...k)#cite_note-2

Funny enough, I played this work this morning. Maxim Shostakovich, LSO, Collins. A broad reading this one, I would say, that allows more access to the detail of the music.

One of the first DSCH symphonies I got into years ago, along with 5 & 10, then I discovered #4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ahinton]

Funny enough, I played this work this morning. Maxim Shostakovich, LSO, Collins. A broad reading this one, I would say, that allows more access to the detail of the music.

One of the first DSCH symphonies I got into years ago, along with 5 & 10, then I discovered #4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Exclamation marks fully understood, for this is surely one of Shostakovich's very finest achievements.

[Beef Oven!]

Exclamation marks fully understood, for this is surely one of Shostakovich's very finest achievements.

See if Pee agrees, then we really know we've entered the Twilight Zone!

[Nick Armstrong]

I hope ammy and 2Gongs will lend their agreement and I'll feel like Kofi Annan

[Beef Oven!]

I hope ammy and 2Gongs will lend their agreement and I'll feel like Kofi Annan

[ahinton]

I hope ammy and 2Gongs will lend their agreement and I'll feel like Kofi Annan

Ah, the power of music and what it can overcome!

Music is..a way to enlightenment to the spirit...
Only thus..can all its beauty enter into the soul,
giving glimpses of Nirvana...

Let us take refuge in Nirvana and leave it at that.

(extracted from Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, Around Music, chapters 28 and 35: Unicorn Press, London, 1932)


And as I wake, sweet music breathe,
Above, about or underneath,
Sent by some spirit to mortals good,
Or th'unseen genius of the wood.
(from Il Penseroso, John Milton)

Anyway, never mind that Twilight Zone, other than to the extent that anyone might consider that the Fifteenth Symphony somehow belongs to that of Shostakovich's creative career...

[Beef Oven!]

Ah, the power of music and what it can overcome!

Music is..a way to enlightenment to the spirit...
Only thus..can all its beauty enter into the soul,
giving glimpses of Nirvana...

Let us take refuge in Nirvana and leave it at that.

(extracted from Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, Around Music, chapters 28 and 35: Unicorn Press, London, 1932)

[ahinton]

Er - that's not by Shostakovich...

[Nick Armstrong]

Funny enough, I played this work this morning. Maxim Shostakovich, LSO, Collins

And again with your fishy lunch, we read?

Always good for a whistle:

[Beef Oven!]

And again with your fishy lunch, we read?

Always good for a whistle:

And.....

.............. My definition of an intellectual is someone who can whistle the William Tell Overture without thinking of the Lone Ranger! (Billy Connolly?)

[Nick Armstrong]

Well I do always think of Shostakovich 15 when I hear the "William Tell" theme - much as I always think of Shostakovich 15, not the Ring, when I hear those Siegfried death drum taps and chords (start of the last movement).

As far as the start of the first movement goes, talk about simplicity... 17 notes in all... less is more (and another very tune, high on the first flute ) -

[amateur51]

I hope ammy and 2Gongs will lend their agreement and I'll feel like Kofi Annan

That would be the Kofi Annan who did such a fine job in sorting Syria out, would it?

[Nick Armstrong]

That would be the Kofi Annan who did such a fine job in sorting Syria out, would it?

There you go.... I do feel like Kofi Annan

[johnb]

I've always thought of the 15th as very much a valedictory piece and rather atypical. (Parallels with Prokofiev's 7th?) Gone, or greatly diluted, is that excoriating sardonic passion that is so characteristic of most of the symphonies.

The sparse scoring mentioned in an earlier post might, at least in part, be due to the difficulty and pain that DDS suffered towards the end of his life when writing the music down.