Shostakovich works to acclimate beginners?

[RebLem]

Oh, please don't play the last movement of the last symphony out of context!  It reprises music from all the other movements, esp. the first; as a man lays dying, he reviews his life, and incidents from his past, once stated so vigorously, parade past his field of consciousness, now dessicated by age and illness and the immediacy of his impending death.  An enormous part of the effectiveness and emotional content of this movement is dependent on an understanding of what went on before.  It would be obscene and meaningless to play it out of context.

[Daverz]

Oh, please don't play the last movement of the last symphony out of context!  

What should I end with then?  I want to end with something that has a sense of finality.

I'm not really worried about people not getting the full context.  I'll be playing a lot of the music out of context.
The idea is just to intrigue listeners.

[Brian]

Uh ...

Why can't they just go to the concert?

I love Shostakovich and I consider him to be to the 20th century what Beethoven was to the 19th, but I really think that it's not necessary to play umpteen clips from 5-10 symphonies and X chamber music, in order to get people "intrigued" or ready for the Tenth Symphony. The Tenth is instantly impressive; as noted on the last page, my mom went from thinking Grieg was too modernist to raving about the Tenth for months on end. I had a somewhat similar experience, since my introduction to Shosty had been the totally harmless jazz suites.

If anything, I think you should throw the listening party after the concert. Say something like, "You've heard one of [actually two of] Shosty's masterworks. Let's try a couple more." And I'm sure that everybody will want to explore more of the composer after hearing some of his most incredible music live. If they have to go to a three-hour seminar of listening to clips, they will hear some really good music, but ultimately I think the concert is what will really win their hearts.

What I'm saying, I guess, is know thy audience. If this is a bunch of blue-haired old ladies who will hear the concerto and say, "This is too confusing for me. Why aren't they playing Mendelssohn?" then that's one thing. If it's a group of savvy listeners like us, that's another thing. But ultimately ... why can't they just go to the concert? Have the Shosty party the next weekend, and present a couple complete works. "Since you liked the Cello Concerto and Tenth Symphony so much, here are a couple more pieces I think you'll love..."

[Fëanor]

In the end, the notion of needing to "acclimate" to Shostakovich strikes me as a bit silly.  I can't really think of a work of this composer that isn't "accessible".  Prokofiev or Bartok need a bit more effort for example, IMO.

If we're talking Babbit, Carter, Birtwistle, Rihm, etc., or Messaien even, then that's another matter.

[Daverz]

Shorter Brian: Why can't you do things my way?!

Because it's my goddam party, Brian.

[Dana]

In the end, the notion of needing to "acclimate" to Shostakovich strikes me as a bit silly.  I can't really think of a work of this composer that isn't "accessible."

How about the late quartets, and the symphonies after No.10? Or the last violin and viola sonatas?

[karlhenning]

Hard for me to tell definitively, since at the time I approached the later works, I was already sold on (say) the Fifth and Tenth Symphonies (and the Thirteenth was also an early 'acquisition').  But even if I had gone to them first-ish, I don't believe I should have found the late quartets "inaccessible."

[Fëanor]

How about the late quartets, and the symphonies after No.10? Or the last violin and viola sonatas?

Of course it's in ear of the listener.  I never had a problem with these pieces, but a person might who, say, who was weaned on mid-Romantic era music.

For me, despite repeated attempts, it's far more brutal to listen to Bruckner, or Mahler even, than anything by Shostakovich.