Dmitri's Dacha

[Varg]

Haven't heard this before, it's so Shosty, love it, so dark, loveeeee it!

Yeah!

I should've said, for those who doesn't know, that the 15th is his last complete Quartet score. The 16th score was incomplete (Schnittke "completed" it!!), so it's not entirely Shostakovich. But, as you said, it's still very Shosty!

Here (from the youtube link):

"This quartet is a new discovery by the Bordars quartet. Sadly, the manuscript was destroyed at the Zhislin studios shortly after the premiere. (Well, just a copy actually - see below for details).

*Due to numerous questions about this quartet that we have received since the upload, here is a quick blurb.
(I have talked to Irina Antonovna (Sh) and she elaborated on some of the details.)

This quartet is, of course, not "the last piece" Shostakovich wrote. (And it is not "completely" by Shostakovich). Actually, Shostakovich wrote about "a half" of what you hear here in the early 60s (around the time of 7th and 8th quartet composition). The manuscript sketch of this movement was in pencil and the pages were filed in a type of folder Sh. usually used for his official documents.
Shortly after this sketch was written, Shostakovich was actually supposed to meet with Schnittke (read Ivashkin, for details on that meeting). However, that day Schnittke was detained by militia (soviet police) and was late for the meeting. Sh. was angry (because he valued his time greatly) and did not spend much time with Sch. on that visit (the two never met again). He simply handed over the official papers (I forgot which, and why Sch needed them) over to Schnittke and excused himself.
This is where it gets interesting. When Schnittke came home he found that in that folder below the papers was a sketch for the quartet.
The exact details of what happened after are not known, but according to Irina Schnittke, her husband once showed her his "movement" for string quartet "to the memory of D.Shostakovich" in the early 90s. Then, in late 2002, when Irina Schnittke was going through the composer's archive in Hamburg, she suddenly happened upon the sketch (still in the official folder) from Shostakovich. She then examined the "movement" that Alfred showed her and found striking similarity. In fact, the sketch was incomplete, but had the basic "shostakovich" narrative laid out (with a lot of motivic development as heard in this performance - consider for instance the climax around 1:50). Schnittke must have filled it in with his own material and put it aside after this completion. (This movement was never listed among Schnittke's official works). Irina Schnittke, who by that time became very well acquainted with the viola player from Bordars, decided to have this movement be given an "unofficial" premiere in London. Of course, the problem is that due to this "problem of authorship", Irina Shostakovich and Irina Schnittke are currently in dispute over who the original manuscript belongs should belong to. I'll update once I know more about this matter from private sources.

Therefore, to answer one question, I don't believe we will be hearing a "no.17" at any point "

[Varg]

I've listened to this close to a hundred times since i discovered it tree days ago. This is mind-blowing, a masterpiece from introduction to closing; each single part of that short monster is ridiculously good, and so well played! A work of genius in my book.

[The Emperor]

Is there any cd with a recording of this movement?

[Varg]

Is there any cd with a recording of this movement?

Im affraid we'll have to wait a bit before it happens.

[BachQ]

From one Dmitri to another, please let me wish you happy birthday!



Dmitri Shostakovich (born Sept. 25, 1906).

[karlhenning]

Oh, tomorrow will have to be an all-Mitya-all-the-time listening queue!

[BachQ]

Oh, tomorrow will have to be an all-Mitya-all-the-time listening queue!

Actually, in Moscow, it became tomorrow 51 minutes ago .......

[karlhenning]

да

[The Emperor]

The string quartets are already in the playlist

[karlhenning]

Очень хорошо!

[The Emperor]

Check out this cool cover of Shosty's 10th symphony second movement.
I always said Shostakovich is METAL! ahah

http://www.mediafire.com/?13nsm2j4nlp

[karlhenning]

TTT

[karlhenning]

The BSO played the Fourth last night, only the second time ever that they have played the piece.  Very fine performance.

More Later.

[Guido]

Fantastic piece this new string quartet... They say that the manuscript was destroyed but presumably they can still publish as they have the separate parts. Exciting stuff.

[karlhenning]

New string quartet, Guido?

[greg]

Fantastic piece this new string quartet... They say that the manuscript was destroyed but presumably they can still publish as they have the separate parts. Exciting stuff.

yeah, what are you talking about?

it's not April Fool's day yet, btw....

[Sef]

The BSO played the Fourth last night, only the second time ever that they have played the piece.  Very fine performance.

The Fourth is absolutely my favourite. I saw it a couple of years ago with Mark Elder conducting the CSO together with Elgar's Cello Concerto (which was why I was attending in the first place). I think I can safely say that it was one of the most enjoyable concerts I have ever attended. I shall be going again in May to see Haitink conduct the same piece! I have the ticket magnetized to my fridge to remind myself every time I get peckish.

[Drasko]

Does anyone around here have Rozhdestvensky's recording of Babi Yar?
I'm looking for certain bit of info about it.

[rubio]

Does anyone around here have Rozhdestvensky's recording of Babi Yar?
I'm looking for certain bit of info about it.

Yep, I have this cycle. What info do you want?

[greg]

Does anyone around here have Rozhdestvensky's recording of Babi Yar?
I'm looking for certain bit of info about it.

me too....... but what would you like to know?