Doubting Shostakovich

Started by Kullervo, June 07, 2007, 10:56:53 AM

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George


Drasko

Quote from: George on June 13, 2007, 10:13:08 AM
Well, there's this one from 1954 for $1.38.

http://www.classicalmusicmobile.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=111&products_id=477

Thanks George, but I'm after '38 this time.


vandermolen (that is you?) did you get Doremi or Membran, or perhaps some exotic japanese release? How is the transfer quality?

zamyrabyrd

Is this the only thread on Shostakovitch? "Doubting"? Oh well.
Last week musicians from Austria played his second piano trio from 1944.
A friend of mine said "it keeps you on the edge of your seat".
Any other admirers of this work?

ZB
"Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one."

― Charles MacKay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

quintett op.57

Quote from: zamyrabyrd on July 07, 2007, 09:57:12 PM
Is this the only thread on Shostakovitch? "Doubting"? Oh well.
Last week musicians from Austria played his second piano trio from 1944.
A friend of mine said "it keeps you on the edge of your seat".
Any other admirers of this work?

ZB
I heard it in concert (Wanderer trio) last year ago and I'm not going to forget it.

The new erato

Quote from: zamyrabyrd on July 07, 2007, 09:57:12 PM
Is this the only thread on Shostakovitch? "Doubting"? Oh well.
Last week musicians from Austria played his second piano trio from 1944.
A friend of mine said "it keeps you on the edge of your seat".
Any other admirers of this work?

ZB
Here's one. But re edge-of-seat: Last week I heard the violin sonata with Andsnes/Rachlin in a concert at the Risør Chamber Festival (in a concert where Christian Poltera/Poltna Lescheko played the Rachmaninov cello sonata). Now THIS is edge-of-seat stuff!

Boris_G

Quote from: Steve on June 08, 2007, 07:34:51 PM
I'd agree with this position, Karl.. Too often, we see that problem with literary criticism. A student is having difficulty connecting with a work of the past, and then after reading a few biogarphies on the author, returns to the work able to access it. This doesn't need to be problematic in theory, but sometimes, it provides the student with a limiting lens with which to view the text. That lens becomes a 'crutch' and the student is prevented from seeing the work from other perspectives. Even if it does bring a sense of meaning to a piece of literature/music, secondary information about the author should not inform one's preference. If that is the case, then it is not an expression of interest in a work, but merely an expression of one's interest in the author. In fact, this is the biggest problem with interpretation. We learn that an author had a troubled childhood, and we use that experience to approach the work. We should always strive to approach art/music raw and unhindered, so that our opinions are indeed our own. If you don't like Shostakovich's 10 after repeated listening, then you don't like the piece. The only thing that should change you mind, is more expousre to the piece, and not background information.

Quote from: Sergeant Rock on June 09, 2007, 06:48:53 AM
That's not necessarily true. That certainly wasn't the case with my Eroica experience and today I love the symphony for itself, not for its historical context and importance. I just don't believe knowing the circumstances of creation and the biography of the artist ever hurt or hampered anyone's appreciation of a work of art. If it did, we would have banished critical biographies long ago. Art doesn't exist in a vacuum.

Sarge

I would add that to gain an insight into a work through a composer's biography, or perhaps recognising and understanding musical references he's made (particularly relevant to such composers as Shostakovich and Prokofiev), can be an excellent way of getting to the heart of a piece of music. That is not to say the heart should be the be all and end all of hearing the music, but it can help cut through surface irrelevances which may be putting a listener off (eg the sound Shostakovich's lean textures, or of Beethoven's orchestration).

To give another example, it would be a shame if listeners were tempted to dismiss Schnabel's Beethoven on the basis that his technique wasn't the cleanest imaginable. In other words, I think it's useful if people get to the matter of what a musician or a composer is trying to express, rather than getting hung-up on its manner (though of course the manner of the music has some importance).

Kullervo

Quote from: zamyrabyrd on July 07, 2007, 09:57:12 PM
Is this the only thread on Shostakovitch? "Doubting"? Oh well.
Last week musicians from Austria played his second piano trio from 1944.
A friend of mine said "it keeps you on the edge of your seat".
Any other admirers of this work?

ZB

Well, now that I've heard DSCH and very much enjoyed what I've heard, there's no reason for this thread to exist.
There is, however, Dmitri's Dacha.

:)

karlhenning


karlhenning

Quote from: zamyrabyrd on July 07, 2007, 09:57:12 PM
Last week musicians from Austria played his second piano trio from 1944.
A friend of mine said "it keeps you on the edge of your seat".
Any other admirers of this work?

Indeed!  I like the first as well, a young work, perhaps, but a very musical young work of unalloyed assurance.

greg

i doubt Shostakovich all the time.......

it's not like he's going to come back to life......

Boris_G

#70
Quote from: greg on July 08, 2007, 03:11:01 PM
i doubt Shostakovich all the time.......

it's not like he's going to come back to life......

Oh, but he's very alive: certainly more demonstrably so than a certain... well that's probably a thread for the Diner. Can I be bothered?  :-\

abidoful

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on July 08, 2007, 10:29:06 AM
Indeed!  I like the first as well, a young work, perhaps, but a very musical young work of unalloyed assurance.
I love the first Trio; economic and/but effective :)

False_Dmitry

#72
Quote from: Steve on June 07, 2007, 11:35:28 AM
That was the same problem that prevented me from appreciating these quartets. Even as a devoted Shostakovich listener, I am not overly of all of those quartets. It's the symphonies that you need to listen to quickly. Pick up a good complete set, by either Jansons/Barshai/Haitink.

I'm really astounded you could reach such a conclusion.  For me they represent some of the finest 4tet writing of the C20th.  The 8th, 9th, 11th and 15th quartets in particular are the apogee of his writing.  These are works which I would never wish to be without.  Although I'm always freshening the content on my mp3-player, at least 2-3 of the quartets are always on there to revisit and explore.
____________________________________________________

"Of all the NOISES known to Man, OPERA is the most expensive" - Moliere

Franco

Oh I vastly prefer the quartets (his chamber music in general) to the symphonies - they represent for me his true musical legacy.

The new erato

Quote from: False_Dmitry on August 05, 2010, 12:41:29 PM
I'm really astounded you could reach such a conclusion.  For me they represent some of the finest 4tet writing of the C20th.  The 8th, 9th, 11th and 15th quartets in particular are the apogee of his writing.  These are works which I would never wish to be without.  Although I'm always freshening the content on my mp3-player, at least 2-3 of the quartets are always on there to revisit and explore.
No 13 has long been my favorite; plain shit-scary stiff!

False_Dmitry

#75
Quote from: erato on August 05, 2010, 10:53:02 PM
No 13 has long been my favorite; plain shit-scary stiff!

;D   Choosing between DSCH's 4tets is like choosing from the menu in your favourite restaurant - your favourites are always available, but everything else is just as good if you're in the mood :)

I always feel that #15 inhabits a different world to the others, though? (and its scale and scope is greatly enlarged).  My abiding affection for that extraordinary piece arose out of seeing it used in a stage production - a kind of "Shostakovich biog-show" jointly evolved by Simon & Gerard McBurney - called "The Sound Of Noise", and performed by Complicité with the Emersons.  The culimation of the show was a complete performance (fragments of it are also introduced earlier) of the Fifteenth.  I saw the show in a provincial town, where it played in front of a very general audience who weren't especially interested in classical music...  but the advocacy for Shostakovich's music within the show resulted in a rapt, fascinated performance of the quartet, and tumultuous applause when it ended.  It's an experience of a live performance that's remained in my mind ever since.
____________________________________________________

"Of all the NOISES known to Man, OPERA is the most expensive" - Moliere