Shostakovich 15

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

That's why I've got my music files in the computer

It's my computer that "packs up" - that's why I stick to CDs on a shelf. (Well - they will be, once I work out where to put the shelves!)

[teamsaint]

... which is why, to quote David Hockney, we should "never believe what an artist says, only what he does".

That is my watchword for politicians.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... which is why, to quote David Hockney, we should "never believe what an artist says, only what he does".

DH Lawrence, too: "Never trust the teller; always trust the tale." (I occasionally wonder if he had TS Eliot in mind when he said this.)

[amateur51]

DH Lawrence, too: "Never trust the teller; always trust the tale." (I occasionally wonder if he had TS Eliot in mind when he said this.)

And WB Yeats ..

"O chestnut-tree, great-rooted blossomer,
Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole?
O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,
How can we know the dancer from the dance?"



from Among School Children

[gurnemanz]

I've been fascinated by this work since the first performance I saw in Leipzig with Herbert Kegel in 1972. It was a special event because it was the first time the orchestra and conductor had played it and the first time most of the audience had heard it. I didn't know much else by him at the time - Fifth Symphony and Second PC. I got the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra/Maxim Shostakovich premier recording on a Melodiya LP. Unusually for a symphony, the sleeve gives a name check to various orchestral soloists: violin, flute, trombone, cello and double bass. It seems never to have been issued on CD.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

And WB Yeats ..

"O chestnut-tree, great-rooted blossomer,
Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole?
O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,
How can we know the dancer from the dance?"



from Among School Children

[BBMmk2]

That's why I've got my music files in the computer

I might purchase one one of those thingeys that can hold 5000 cds?

[teamsaint]

I might purchase one one of those thingeys that can hold 5000 cds?

a shed?

That big B and Q near Hastings will sort you out BBM.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I might purchase one one of those thingeys that can hold 5000 cds?

... a butler?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Snap!

[amateur51]

a shed?

That big B and Q near Hastings will sort you out BBM.

Remember the video of Rob Cowan's shed, full of books and CDs? <green-eye emoticon>

[edashtav]

But was it ever? I often find myself wondering what the word "sardonic" means when (often somewhat glibly) applied to the music of Shostakovich and particularly to its referential aspects. "Sardonic" implies some kind of derision directed towards the music cited or alluded to. Is it ever as simple as that?

Sorry I've been pre-occupied all day and missed your thoughts re "sardonic", Richard. I would claim not that the cited music is derided but that it is used as an instrument of derision towards people, and events that may not be named directly without risk to Shostakovich's personal safety.

[EdgeleyRob]

Not sure what I'm trying to say here so bear with me.
DSCH 15 always strikes me as being the composer's whole life story,as music,and it sounds as if it wasn't easy for him to write,if that makes sense.
Whatever,it's a masterpiece

[Richard Barrett]

I would claim not that the cited music is derided but that it is used as an instrument of derision towards people, and events that may not be named directly without risk to Shostakovich's personal safety.

But is it known what these people and events might have been? Everything I've read on the subject seems to me highly speculative, but I'm not claiming expert knowledge.

[Richard Tarleton]

A quick one to thank the company for populating this thread with such thought-provoking posts

And one from me - and another to Cali for starting it. This thread has prompted me after a 40 year gap really to get to grips with this symphony. I've been listening repeatedly to the Haitink/RCO recording. I was in the RFH for the first UK performance in '72, with DSCH in the Royal Box. I was near the start of my serious concert going career at the time, had only heard one other DSCH symphony live (10), and like some others in the hall including at least one critic the next morning was left a bit puzzled by it. For example I had not started on Wagner and the quotes from Walkure and Tristan in the final movement were wasted on me. At last it's all making sense, my gratitude for the various links.

Oistrach played the 2nd violin concerto that night - like DSCH himself, someone who loved Russia but not the regime. Oistrach had been prevented from coming to London the previous year by the USSR following the expulsion of 103 spies aka diplomats from the Soviet Embassy. When Rostropovich left Russia, Oistrach advised him to buy a house with a lot of land around it, and to plant birch trees. Oistrach too had a bad time - just about every Soviet artist did.