Dmitri's Dacha

[greg]

This thread has reminded me to listen to Shostakovich again, and I have not listened to a single note from him since 2002. Lots of CDs, but for some reason I have been listening to others.

First up, symphony #14.

2002? 
That's way too long, man!
You picked a good one to start again with 

[Bonehelm]

And to be sure, Greg, the entire Fourth Symphony is (probably a reasonably apt use of this much-abused adjective) awesome.  I could not vouch for its freaking, at all.

Perfect FIFTH, I will say that the first couple of times I listened to the Fourth Symphony, I didn't "get" it.  After a long interval, I went back to it, and now about half the time it is my favorite Shostakovich symphony, and well up in my Top Ten Symphonies of All Time.

Sounds great, I'll give him a try, since I have the Haitink cycle and have never really did much in-depth listening.

[karlhenning]

First up, symphony #14.

That's plunging right in, Paul!

[not edward]

When I take my DSCH symphonic plunges, it almost always ends up involving #4, #14 and #15.

[karlhenning]

I do remember . . . we were rehearsing the Eighth Symphony for a forthcoming performance in the concert season.  Dmitri Dmitriyevich had come up to Leningrad as usual for the rehearsal.  In the break Mravinsky turned round to us and said, 'Do you know, I have this impression that here in this place Dmitri Dmitriyevich has omitted something;  there's a discrepancy between the harmonies of these chords as they appear here and where they occur elsewhere.  I've always wanted to ask Dmitri Dmitriyevich about this point, but somehow I have never got round to it.'

Just at this moment, Dmitri Dmitriyevich himself came up to Mravinsky, who put the question to him without further ado.  Dmitri Dmitriyevich glanced at the score: 'Oh dear, what a terrible omission, what an error I have committed.  But you know what, let's leave it as it is, just let things stay as they are.'  We then understood that this 'error' was deliberate.

[Guido]

New string quartet, Guido?

Sorry - taken a while to respond... Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAKLKokYDso

The piece (SQ no.16) is mentioned just a few posts above your post. It's a fantastic piece.

[karlhenning]

When I take my DSCH symphonic plunges, it almost always ends up involving #4, #14 and #15.

And quite right!

[Guido]

I want listeners to reflect upon my new symphony ... to realise that they must lead pure and fruitful lives for the glory of their Motherland, their people and the most progressive ideas motivating our socialist society. That is what I was thinking about as I wrote my new work. I want my listeners, as they leave the hall after hearing my symphony, to think that life is truly beautiful

What do people make of this passage that Shostakovich wrote in the Preface to the Fourteenth Symphony. Is the whole thing an example of his dark humour and irony, or is some of it genuinely meant?

[karlhenning]

". . . for the glory of [...] the most progressive ideas motivating our socialist society" is certainly tongue-in-cheek.

I don't remember any such Preface to the score I have of the Fourteenth . . . .

[Guido]

From the Wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._14_(Shostakovich)#cite_note-6

[Guido]

". . . for the glory of [...] the most progressive ideas motivating our socialist society" is certainly tongue-in-cheek.

Well obviously, but does that render the rest of that sentence also a mockery, in which case what are we to make of the 'life is truly beautiful'. Is that really what he is trying to say in this work?

[karlhenning]

Well obviously, but does that render the rest of that sentence also a mockery, in which case what are we to make of the 'life is truly beautiful'. Is that really what he is trying to say in this work?

I can't find my copy of Fay at the moment.  There's a quote from Shostakovich in there which seems to me to have the ring of truth.  I'll have to paraphrase.  He was great friends with Britten;  and Shostakovich greatly admired the War Requiem, only as an atheist, Shostakovich felt that Britten went too far in offering after-death solace to the listener.  So the Fourteenth (dedicate to Britten) was assembled in the spirit of "death is it, it's final."  (Though we observe the note of artistic 'immortality' yearned for in what I consider the emotional core of the piece, "Delvig! Oh, Delvig!")

Beyond the quote which I cannot at the moment turn up . . . the insistence upon optimism, the upbeat tenets of "Socialist Realism," in even the post-Stalin USSR would have made such a piece impossible to publish.  So perhaps Shostakovich had to compose such an apparently duplicitous preface, because it had to be done.

[greg]

What do people make of this passage that Shostakovich wrote in the Preface to the Fourteenth Symphony. Is the whole thing an example of his dark humour and irony, or is some of it genuinely meant?

Wow.

[Ugh!]

IMO there is hardly any work by Dmitri that is more fascinating than the 8th SQ. Having been diagnosed with a serious infliction and being forced to join the Communist Party, Shostakovich was apparently planning a suicide, intending the 8th SQ as an epitaph, dedicating it to himself (DSCH  ) and victims of totalitarianism. "While I was composing it I shed the same amount of tears as I would have to pee after half-a-dozen beers". There is some genuine frustration and anger surfacing in the second movement (Allegro Molto), which has always been among my favorite violent erruptions in classical music, bordering on trash metal  .

[Tapio Dimitriyevich Shostakovich]

Concerto day yesterday. "Neue Philharmonie Westfalen" (Cond. Amos Talmon - He has Bernsteinian expressive qualities) with Borodin, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich. Borodin: The obvious (Polovetsian Dances), a Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto op.35 and Shostakovich Symphony No. 1.
I don't like any Violin concertos yet. I didn't find the violin soloists parts to be part of the music. Too extroverted, too artificially exaggerated. It's disturbing the flow of the music rather than supporting it. People seem to like it. Don't know exactly why. Maybe the wish of everybody, to become the center of the world just for one day.

Now the Shostakovich 1. I have only loosely listened to the symphony twice. I must say I was really impressed yesterday. It's very modern, creative and working well. An exciting and tense piece of music. No weak spots for me in the Symphony. I loved the lento, it is of a disturbing beauty. It has some kind abyss shining through. MORE MORE MORE! The Piano was hardly audible in the ending of the symphony.

[karlhenning]

Concerto day yesterday. "Neue Philharmonie Westfalen" (Cond. Amos Talmon - He has Bernsteinian expressive qualities) with Borodin, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich. Borodin: The obvious (Polovetsian Dances), a Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto op.35 and Shostakovich Symphony No. 1.
I don't like any Violin concertos yet. I didn't find the violin soloists parts to be part of the music. Too extroverted, too artificially exaggerated. It's disturbing the flow of the music rather than supporting it. People seem to like it. Don't know exactly why. Maybe the wish of everybody, to become the center of the world just for one day.

I like concerti, including violin concerti.  I have no desire to be the center of the world, ever.

Now the Shostakovich 1. I have only loosely listened to the symphony twice. I must say I was really impressed yesterday. It's very modern, creative and working well. An exciting and tense piece of music. No weak spots for me in the Symphony. I loved the lento, it is of a disturbing beauty. It has some kind abyss shining through. MORE MORE MORE! The Piano was hardly audible in the ending of the symphony.

Aye, it's a very fine first symphony, and a worthy addition to the repertory.

[drogulus]

     I've been listening to the 1st quite a bit lately (Stokowski and the Haitink from my recent acquisition of the cycle). I really ought to get started with the 4th now, shouldn't I?

[jowcol]

It's interesting a lot of you like the Fourth.  I have a very special relationship with it.

For what it's worth, I like DSCH, but I haven't found the need to dig too deep in the Catalog. I like the 10th the most, (particularly the long first movement), the 5th of course, and, call me shallow, but I also like the "Bolero" part of the 7th, although it strikes me that the last couple movements stretched themselves thin.  But still, I have a weird relationship with the 4th some of you might understand, particularly the last 7 minutes or so of the final movement.

As it turned out, back in the 80s, I had bought the 4th on vinyl, and it never really clicked with me, and I put it away after a couple listens.  Two years later, juggling night classes at college and a job, I have to drive home late at night having been up for about 40 hours.  I only had a radio, but found something on the classical station that was listenable.  (Yes, it was the last movement of the 4th, but I didn't recognize it.)

Anyway, I'm enjoying the music well enough, and am driving home on an empty parkway at 60 mph, with tall, concrete sound barriers on either side when the tympani kicked in, and suddenly the dramatic last few minutes had started.  I let my imagination run free-- it sounding like some ultimate conflict between good and evil, the forces of good struggling against some sort of inhuman juggernaut.

I was seconds away from anus-clenching terror.

I became aware something large over my left shoulder.  An 18 wheeler tractor trailer had decided he wanted my lane with me in it.  I hit the brakes at 60 mph and started swerving, first towards the concrete sound barrier, and then the truck, burning rubber and sometimes going on two wheels.  The wild thing about was that it seemed perfectly in synch with the music, sort of like a Fantasia getting wayyyy too personal.  Still skidding, I saw a large concrete column in front of me that was supporting an underpass.  There was no way out.  I bent down, held the steering wheel as tight as I could, kept my foot on the break and closed my eyes.

As the tires stopped squealing, and I heard the truck thunder off into the distance, the loud crescendo had ending, and the theme I had associated with forces of good had morphed into a funereal dirge.  Still shaking, I looked up and saw that I had come to a stop about 6 inches from the  pillar.  The funereal dirge hit home-- that could have been me.

As Phillip K. Dick had put it, "It is a terrifying experience indeed to have been bushwhacked by the Living God." That was just how I felt. 

As you now, the last couple minute have this long sustained, erie pedal happening, which seemed to embody for me the all-too-thin line between life and death.  Of course, I had to wait for the announcer to tell me what I was listening too-- me and this piece I was listening to  were now inseperable, and yes, it was the 4th.

The next day, I decided I needed some Shostakovitch, so I went through my LPs, and there was the fourth.  I listened to it end to end, and I still couldn't wrap my head around it.  But, the hair stood up on the back of my neck during the last 7 minutes, and just to top it off.  Strangely enough, right at the point where the funereal dirge started, they did a test of the local air raid sirens.  (Gotta love the Reagan years)  They did it once a month, and I got lucky.

When I made the move to CDs, I bought the 4th first.  Not that it was my favorite, not that I still haven't really grasped the whole thing, but there is a lifetime in those last seven minutes..

[greg]

Makes me never want to listen to music while driving.....

[Tapio Dimitriyevich Shostakovich]

It's interesting a lot of you like the Fourth.  I have a very special relationship with it.

Bad experience, good music. Haven't listened a lot yet to #4, but I remember it was soo interesting. The whole music, also last movement somewhat reminded me of Mahler, e.g. the "Tamboursg'sell" (translated as 'little drummer boy') would go well with the last mvmt.