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The symph no 5 you list is the one I have-excellent all round.Most of his symphonic work is good,some a little 'heavier'and need more effort to get into.His film music is worth alisten too.Chandos have done a couple.The complete Hamlet came out recently.Also The Gadfly is good.
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I missed that I'll have to get them both out this weekend-a task to stretch the mind.
Talking of Horner& Shostakovitch & plagarismleads me to a story about 'Shosh'.As you are discovering his music I mention it,or at least what I can remember of it.You might come across the full monty on your travels.I read somewhere that during the Stalinist regime(I think)a lot of hids music was repressed And he got into trouble over some of it.Anyway there was no way that any western ears could have heard the piece of music in question,yet it sounded remarkably like a piece by another composer(can't remember who).It was only years later that the similarity was notice.I think i got most of that right(though I hope I haven't got the wrong composer!!).
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Posted: |
Oct 21, 2005 - 4:47 PM
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By: |
Tall Guy
(Member)
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In my opinion, THE greatest composer of the 20th century, and by any measure one of the greatest of all time. Not only that, but a contender for man of the century. His story concided with most of the events that shaped the world during the 1900s.
For the uninitiated, he was lauded as a young man, his first symphony in particular (written for his graduation from the conservatoire) showing his extravagant and precocious talent. Two more symphonies (more avant garde) followed, and his only opera (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District).
The latter played to huge acclaim until Stalin went to see it and decided it didn't fit into his criteria for soviet art. Pravda ran an article (reputedly written by Joe himself) criticising Shostakovich, whose currency was immediately devalued. He put his completed but unheard 4th symphony into his bottom drawer and wrote the 5th, superficially as a "soviet artist's reply to just criticism", which greatly helped to resurrect his career.
The second world war intervened - Shostakovich tried to sign up but was refused service due to poor eyesight (but probably more due to his propaganda value alive). He volunteered for fire duties during the siege of Leningrad, during which time his 7th symphony was smuggled out to the west in the most dramatic fashion.
1948 saw another downturn in his official popularity (new title: enemy of the people) and he survived by writing film scores, which were received poorly in the west because of their clear soviet leanings. Many of his friends disappeared during this period, and he slept in his apartment with a bag packed by the door, so as not to disturb his young family too much when, as he assumed, he was taken to be imprisoned or simply shot out of hand.
Miraculously he survived Stalin (unlike Prokofiev, who was unfortunate enough to die on the same day). As he got older, his symphonies continued, but he also wrote many more introspective pieces (notably string quartets) which many experts feel represented his true thoughts. That said, some observers now read biting defiance into his more public works (even the fifth symphony) - you can of course include subtexts in music that can mean almost anything, particularly when the initial criticism was groundless anyway.
He was used as a propaganda tool in trips to the USA and Europe, and the cultural thaw under Kruschev made Shostakovich feel sufficiently secure to re-introduce his 4th symphony in 1961. If I could only listen to one piece of music ever again, it'd be that. It's not his most accessible work, but it may be his greatest. He died in 1975 after years of increasing illness and debility. Next year marks his centenary, and I hope it's suitably celebrated.
It's not only his music that I revere, but also what I understand of the man. He was supremely talented, and photographs of him show a slim, bespectacled figure who you could infer was dour and academic. The truth is quite different. He numbered many artists and bohemian figures amongst his adolescent and young adult life (many of whom didn't survive the Stalin regime), wrote music for plays, operettas and revues as well as the serious stuff, delighted in watching watch football (he was trained as a referee!), struggled to put food on his table as a family man and above all loved his country and countrymen despite hating the regime.
For me the music would be enough, but the more I learn about the person behind the music, the more I honour it.
Before I go back to abusing Mousie, I want to recommend some reading (not listening - try ANY of his music, in fact try ALL of it) if any of the above piques your curiosity. A book called Testimony is allegedly his memoirs and whether or not he wrote every word it's a fascinating insight. Ian MacDonald's biography (I think called The New Shostakovich, I'm writing this without any research at all) sheds possible light on the secret messages in his music, and there are numerous "straight" bios.
You needn't feel guilty about trying him to the detriment of your film music interests - he wrote more scores than Korngold, and is fairly well represented on disc in that respect.
Sorry to go on, but I'm a bit of a fan, as you might have gathered.
Chris
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What a brilliant composer. I am beginning to discover him through the symphonies. What an interesting life he had. I have ordered his autobiography.
Your opnions on Dimitri Shostakovich?
Philipp
np: "symphony no. 5" (dimitri shostakovich,royal concertgebouw orchestra,bernard haitink)
Wonderful. I love Festive Overture. It was one of the first original orchestral pieces I played in high school and it kicked my ass.
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Maybe it's just me, but Horner's new CHUMSCRUBBER theme sounds a lot like Shostakovich's "Waltz 2 from Jazz Suite", which was used so effectively by Kubrick in EYES WIDE SHUT. Speaking of Shostakovich-influenced film scores, I once attended a showing of BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN at the local college which featured a live orchestra playing the score for the film that had been patched together from various concert pieces by the Russian composer. During the climactic sequence, which was exciting enough on its own, I suddenly got chills up my spine when I recognized a piece of music I'd been looking for on disc for years. I knew it from the finale of the film VICTORY, scored by Bill Conti, but as I sat there watching POTEMKIN I suddenly realized that the piece had been directly lifted from Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony. It was a strange moment: I was simultaneously disappointed that Conti hadn't written the cue himself and exhilarated that I'd be able to acquire a copy the next day and listen to it whenever I wanted. I've discovered lots of Shostakovich music since then, and have much more to look forward to in the future.
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I don't know about other people sounding like or being influenced by Shostakovich, but aren't there a few Shostakovich pieces that start to sound like Franz Waxman?--notably Waxman's Scherzo from A PLACE IN THE SUN that seems to be a major influence on one of Shostakovich's pieces, the title of which escapes me at the moment.
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Posted: |
Oct 21, 2005 - 8:26 PM
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By: |
Tall Guy
(Member)
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It seems that Shostakovich and Waxman knew each other quite well. In trying to find a clip from the scherzo from Place in the Sun to try and place it (unsuccessfully, I might add), I came across the information that Waxman was instrumental in getting Shostakovich to the USA (LA to be precise) in 1959 and 1961.
The same piece opines that Waxman was influenced by Shostakovich, but I'm fully prepared to believe that the process was two-way. Shostakovich drew heavily from folk tunes for some of his works (including the 11th symphony), and when he had any kind of block in writing his own music, he would re-orchestrate other composers' works for practice. Some of these (eg Mussorgsky's Kovanschina) became more widely played than the originals.
Mostly, though, he would re-engineer some of his own work, especially for performing art works (ie ballet, operetta)such as Cheryomushki and The Golden Age. There are recurring phrases and constructions throughout his work, in some cases lending weight to there being an underlying meaning. The famous DSCH phrase appears in his later works, believed to be a reaffirmation of his survival. For more detail, and a few examples (including one from Britten, see http://www.dschjournal.com/dschmean.htm#examples ).
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Posted: |
Oct 23, 2005 - 12:20 PM
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By: |
Tall Guy
(Member)
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In the very late 1980s I attended a concert at the Barbican which featured Rostropovich - sorry, Rosty - playing the first cello concerto, conducted by Maxim Shostakovich. Although his fingers seemed to have lost a small amount of flexibility in the quicker parts, his love for the piece was evident. He also conducted the 10th sym in the same concert, kissing the score at the end.
About a year later, I saw that the concert was being broadcast on BBC radio, and taped it. During the applause at the end, the presenter says something like "one or two people are standing up" - I was one of them. When I'm on my feet, people notice!
Sadly, London is still the most likely place for live concerts during his centenary year, and I'm now 200 miles north.
Keep the faith!
Chris
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