Dmitri's Dacha

[calyptorhynchus]

I had a thought today listening to the Violin Concerto No.1. The beginning of the Passacaglia movement sounds very English to me, perhaps this is because I think of a passacaglia as a very English musical form. Maybe, however, the master was actually setting out to write an English sounding few minutes of music as a way of thanking Britain (and the US) for their alliance with the USSR in WW2. Maybe this was one of the reasons why he couldn't release the work, what with the Cold War beginning and all.

Or is this just my imagination.

[Mirror Image]

Or is this just my imagination.

This.

[Jo498]

Why should the Passacaglia (per se or the one in the Shosty concerto) be particularly "English"?

[amw]

I tend to associate the passacaglia form with J.S. Bach myself. Who was Saxon, but not exactly Anglo.

Don't think there's much English influence in Shostakovich's music until some of the later song cycles (inclusive of the 14th Symphony as well as the Blok, Blake, Michelangelo, Jewish Folk Poetry etc), which tend to be somewhat indebted to Britten. They were chums of course. Occasional similarities with the Vaughan Williams of the 4th symphony but I think those are coincidental.

[Karl Henning]

Shostakovich and Britten both certainly benefited from their friendship.  Still, we could not say that ДШ owes his use of the passacaglia to BB, as it goes back at the least to the wonderful Intermezzo in Лэди Макбет.

[snyprrr]

Been listening to the Preludes & Fugues... so much of the melodic/harmonic content sounds a lot like Finzi of the 'Eclogue'. I don't call this sound 'English' per se, but the Brits did use this mode quite a lot. I think it is just the typical mode for gentle Neo-Classicism. There's some Malipiero that also mimics this Pastoral mode. Still, I relate the exact sound of this Pastoralism to Finzi, in which it is ubiquitous.

[calyptorhynchus]

Why should the Passacaglia (per se or the one in the Shosty concerto) be particularly "English"?

I didn't say it should be, I said this one (or at least the beginning) sounds English to me.

[calyptorhynchus]

I think the third, slow movement of the Sixth String Quartet (1956) also sounds English.

[snyprrr]

Piano Trio No.2 Op.67

I had somewhat relegated this to the "Freeebird" section- too much played, never needed again to hear- but, after getting stuck on String Quartet No.2 Op.68, I thought it must be time. And I thought I knew the piece...

I wasn't prepared for the ghostly harmonics that open it. And the first movement seemed to overflow with ideas; I thought I heard the 'World at War' theme in there,... such a great movement. And the Scherzo is over before you know it.

Then comes the big, famous slow movement. This was one of the first 'Classical' pieces that converted me: the opening chords sounded like heeeavy maaan, and then that yearning melody catches you in its crossing buildup to that big climax... cathartic.

Then comes one of those long DSCH endings. Can someone tell me if the opening melody is actually "giving the finger"? Listen- it really sounds like that one note sticks out like a sore thumb- or raspberry. Hmm?

The Quintet and Trio go so well together, but I'm not quite ready for the Q yet. - but, the Trio has much that the SQs don't- however, it does remind of No.4, the 'Jewish',... that 'Allegretto' setting that Shosty loved, "biddy biddy bum"... makes one fantasize about a Violin Sonata from 1945.






EDIT:

Not a 'Performance' Post, but, I had Borodin/Leonskaya (Erato) in a beautiful performance. They blew away my previous (flawed) standarbearer, the Beaux Arts (I know, right?- ackkk), though I used to have the Borodin Trio back in the day- remember a robust, rustic performance there...

[EigenUser]

Piano Trio No.2 Op.67

I had somewhat relegated this to the "Freeebird" section- too much played, never needed again to hear- but, after getting stuck on String Quartet No.2 Op.68, I thought it must be time. And I thought I knew the piece...

I wasn't prepared for the ghostly harmonics that open it. And the first movement seemed to overflow with ideas; I thought I heard the 'World at War' theme in there,... such a great movement. And the Scherzo is over before you know it.

Then comes the big, famous slow movement. This was one of the first 'Classical' pieces that converted me: the opening chords sounded like heeeavy maaan, and then that yearning melody catches you in its crossing buildup to that big climax... cathartic.

Then comes one of those long DSCH endings. Can someone tell me if the opening melody is actually "giving the finger"? Listen- it really sounds like that one note sticks out like a sore thumb- or raspberry. Hmm?

The Quintet and Trio go so well together, but I'm not quite ready for the Q yet. - but, the Trio has much that the SQs don't- however, it does remind of No.4, the 'Jewish',... that 'Allegretto' setting that Shosty loved, "biddy biddy bum"... makes one fantasize about a Violin Sonata from 1945.






EDIT:

Not a 'Performance' Post, but, I had Borodin/Leonskaya (Erato) in a beautiful performance. They blew away my previous (flawed) standarbearer, the Beaux Arts (I know, right?- ackkk), though I used to have the Borodin Trio back in the day- remember a robust, rustic performance there...

I'm a big fan of the Op. 67 PT. I blew up the last movement for string orchestra, harp, celesta, and percussion a few years back, actually. That Jewish melody in the finale is used in the 8th SQ, too (2nd movement).

[amw]

Not a 'Performance' Post, but, I had Borodin/Leonskaya (Erato) in a beautiful performance. They blew away my previous (flawed) standarbearer, the Beaux Arts (I know, right?- ackkk), though I used to have the Borodin Trio back in the day- remember a robust, rustic performance there...

I don't know what the 'best' performance of the trio is, but the most interesting is perhaps the 1945 one with Shostakovich on piano & Dmitry Tziganov and Sergei Shirinsky. (There's another Shostakovich performance with Oistrakh and Sadlo which might be better, I don't know it.) Shostakovich obeys his own metronome markings for one. (7:07 / 2:34 / 4:25 / 9:30) Sound is barely listenable, but it's worth persevering.

[Moonfish]

FYI
Brilliant Classics' Shostakovich for 34 Euros (!)  0:)  at Amazon.de
http://www.amazon.de/Shostakovich-Various/dp/B00DUPU6LA

[Karl Henning]

Sweet deal!

[Karl Henning]

Astonishing news from Boston.

[Mirror Image]

Astonishing news from Boston.

Great news indeed. Should be some interesting performances. Nelsons is quite a good Shostakovian.

[Mirror Image]

In other news: this set is coming out quite soon:

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Arthaus%2BMusik/107552

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Astonishing news from Boston.

Great news, indeed! Would definitely enjoy hearing the BSO in this music.

[jlaurson]

Also news: The world premiere recording of the unfinished Violin Sonata by Shostakovich will be released soon on Challenge Classics... it's just the exposition of the first movement, but it's a huge first movement judging by it (the expo alone has got more bars than the first movement of the contemporary Ninth Symphony). Schnittke was shown the work, once, with hopes that he might finish the work. But he suggested that it's too grand a scale to bring the tonalities back together in the development and that it would have burst all standards of chamber music, to do so. Still, that which is there (and which has been copied out by DSCH himself into a neat score), is quite intriguing... very much like Beethoven and Bach (foreshadowing the Preludes and Fugues, I find).

The work will be coupled with the Weinberg Concertino, the Weinberg Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes for Chamber Orchestra and Violin (the arrangement of the violin/piano version, not the as-of-yet-lost version by Weinberg himself), and the Hartmann Concerto funebre.

[Hiker]

Via Slipped Disc: "Happy Birthday, Dimitri". I love it!

[Mirror Image]

Indulge me for minute: you're stuck on a desert island with a battery-powered CD player, a pair of headphones, and one recording of Shostakovich's music, what recording would you bring along with you and why?