Dmitri's Dacha

[Roasted Swan]

Beloved of primary schools everywhere, I'm sure.

In similar vein

[LKB]

Could I point interested readers towards this (NOT a joke or spoof I promise!!)

https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/product/1812-overture-for-recorder-quartet-19923079.html

1812 arranged for Recorder Quartet.  Fill that gaping hole that has been in your musical-appreciation-life [NB:  the link is to buy the sheet music - yours for $8.95 - NOT listen to the awe inspiring result]

l approve of the concept, but l simply must have the original key of E-Flat Major. 

[relm1]

I am intrigued by Boosey's set of "Newly revised edition" of Shostakovich's symphonies but they give no details of what the revisions are.  Anyone have more insight in to this?  Sure would make a nice 50th anniversary gift for this fan.

https://www.boosey.com/shop/ucat/102624?track=DSCHuniv

[relm1]

I am curious, is there a list of all the external musical references within Symphony No. 15?  We all know about William Tell and Gotterdammerung but am curious about the others and self references to Shostakovich too.  I thought I heard his Symphony No. 13 in here too.

[LKB]

I am curious, is there a list of all the external musical references within Symphony No. 15?  We all know about William Tell and Gotterdammerung but am curious about the others and self references to Shostakovich too.  I thought I heard his Symphony No. 13 in here too.

If the job tonight is as wonderfully boring as usual, this might give me something to do, if l can remember.

[relm1]

If the job tonight is as wonderfully boring as usual, this might give me something to do, if l can remember.

  Here's hoping for your boring evening workload.

[krummholz]

There have got to be dozens, as late Shostakovich is full of self-quotations. I'll just mention one: the clickety-clack percussion ending of the 4th Symphony's second movement turns up at the end of the 15th, though with a very different effect.

[LKB]

Well, I remembered. 

Here's the performance I chose:

https://youtu.be/N0iZGMXpquQ?si=rrdLLX9cKnXfLp56

Now, a major caveat should be stated.

While I've memorized Shostakovich's Symphonies 5,6,8,11, 13 and 14, I have never heard the others except for no. 1, which I played and immediately forgot in 1977 or '78, and no. 15 tonight, for the very first time.

So I've undoubtedly missed some of the quotes, due to not ever having heard the quoted music.

That being said, here's what I did catch, making my notes on Notepad so I could copy/paste:

01:55: William Tell in E Major, Rossini's original key, though he never had it in the brass as here.

05:19: Beginning of Mahler 5 combined with Wagner Siegfried forging scene. Interesting choice for quoting. ( Unless it's merely a happy accident. )

18:20: Climax feels " unearned ".  Probably should listen again, rushing to judgement on one hearing is frequently a mistake.

29:45 Götterdämmerung ( 1st trombone is NOT cutting it here, nervous maybe? )... interspersed with a brief quote from the third movement of Shosti 11, to good effect.

30:51 VIBRATO from the HORN? Really? Maybe it's in the score, or at Haitink's request... Otherwise, appropriate correction must surely be administered. Make him watch Birdemic: Shock and Terror.

[Brian]

Just saw the piece live in concert last night by coincidence...I was astonished by the way that, in the finale, he was able to make a coherent new melody by Frankensteining together quotes from the Ring, Tristan, and a Glinka song.

[relm1]

Well, I remembered. 

Here's the performance I chose:

https://youtu.be/N0iZGMXpquQ?si=rrdLLX9cKnXfLp56

Now, a major caveat should be stated.

While I've memorized Shostakovich's Symphonies 5,6,8,11, 13 and 14, I have never heard the others except for no. 1, which I played and immediately forgot in 1977 or '78, and no. 15 tonight, for the very first time.

So I've undoubtedly missed some of the quotes, due to not ever having heard the quoted music.

That being said, here's what I did catch, making my notes on Notepad so I could copy/paste:

01:55: William Tell in E Major, Rossini's original key, though he never had it in the brass as here.

05:19: Beginning of Mahler 5 combined with Wagner Siegfried forging scene. Interesting choice for quoting. ( Unless it's merely a happy accident. )

18:20: Climax feels " unearned ".  Probably should listen again, rushing to judgement on one hearing is frequently a mistake.

29:45 Götterdämmerung ( 1st trombone is NOT cutting it here, nervous maybe? )... interspersed with a brief quote from the third movement of Shosti 11, to good effect.

30:51 VIBRATO from the HORN? Really? Maybe it's in the score, or at Haitink's request... Otherwise, appropriate correction must surely be administered. Make him watch Birdemic: Shock and Terror.

Very fine list!  Something I've been thinking about, why did he use Wagner's Gotterdammerung?  Wouldn't something like Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov's death scene have made more sense because it would be very Russian, he arranged in the 1940's and could have had a similar ominous fragment affect.  The way he is using Gotterdammerung doesn't feel like a quote but rather a memory (a quote fogged through decades of time passing...it's not quite right but clear what he's thinking about).  This symphony is like a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a riddle.

[Maestro267]

There have got to be dozens, as late Shostakovich is full of self-quotations. I'll just mention one: the clickety-clack percussion ending of the 4th Symphony's second movement turns up at the end of the 15th, though with a very different effect.

On top of that, the timpani motif is based on the invasion theme from the first movement of the 7th Symphony, and the long-held chord in strings is an obvious callback to the long-held chord in strings that ends the 4th Symphony's finale.

[relm1]

It's really interesting when a composer's final symphony doesn't just bookend their symphonies but offers a retrospective of their entire output so succinctly while still being a very fine work on its own.

[lordlance]

Curious of people's thoughts on Muti's Fifth:



I am not terribly familiar with the piece so I may just not not be the target audience but the moderato is boring to me. Especially at 16 minutes.

EDIT: Having finished listening to the piece, I can tell Muti can't deliver the goods for the coda and the recording quality is sub-par as is often the case with EMI sadly (Sawallisch being a big casualty.)

I suppose most of the piece being downtempo (even after skipping the Largo) is probably why it can't interest me. One gets tired of waiting for things to pick up.

I heard Stokowski's live performance off the recent BBC Legends remaster yesterday. Can't say that made me excited either.

[Daverz]

Curious of people's thoughts on Muti's Fifth:

I tend to think very highly of Muti's EMI recordings, but I don't believe I've ever heard this Shostakovich 5.

I am not terribly familiar with the piece so I may just not not be the target audience but the moderato is boring to me. Especially at 16 minutes.

EDIT: Having finished listening to the piece, I can tell Muti can't deliver the goods for the coda and the recording quality is sub-par as is often the case with EMI sadly (Sawallisch being a big casualty.)

I suppose most of the piece being downtempo (even after skipping the Largo) is probably why it can't interest me. One gets tired of waiting for things to pick up.

I heard Stokowski's live performance off the recent BBC Legends remaster yesterday. Can't say that made me excited either.

I suggest trying the first Bernstein. 

Hurwitz has a good survey of recordings of this symphony.