After spending a few weeks thinking about and intending to do a Shostakovich entry: The thrust of which was to be; a comparison of what I felt was “Bombastic and Frantic” – stuff that I don’t like – and his “Sweet Stuff” that I do like. I finally bit the bullet today and spent about three hours composing the blog. When I thought it was almost finished I went in to have lunch and turned the TV on. There was a Documentary on Shostakovich!
I almost fell off my chair. Instead I watched the whole thing! … and decided I wasn’t worthy to compose a “music commentary blog” on him.
Imagine living in Soviet Russia during the harshest repressive years under Stalin. Having Joseph Stalin watching your every move and trying to decide whether to kill you or persecute your family or ban your music. A desperately unhappy man constantly tormented by fear – that’s the music he mostly composed. He expressed in music what would have led to an instant firing squad if it were written or spoken. (*Stalin – being no dummy could hear the collective despair of the Russian people in the music and he didn’t like it*) Hearing the ‘heavy stuff’ now – knowing the background of his life – it all sounds different.
If you want to hear what led to Stalin’s ban – Go here
http://jimsclassicalmusic.com/2008/02/05/i-dont-like-this-music/
Ben Leet
July 16, 2011 at 7:46 pmHi Jim, Hey I have a new computer. I’ll send an e-mail. About Dimitri, I first met him while a student in Eugene Oregon. I’d go to the practice rooms on campus, U of O, and play the preludes and fugues. I read yesterday an article in The Nation, by Michael O’Donnell, Shostakovich’s Ambivalence. I just googled that title and found a pdf file with the article. If you go straight to the Nation, they try to make money off of thee. The article deals with a book, a biography that draws almost entirely on his quartets. I liked this one quote: “The thirteenth (quartet) — a work of profound despair — is the musical equivalent of a man shrieking all his fears into an empty room.” Listening to the later quartets is pure — whats that word?– indulgence in self-inflicted pain — masochism. The claim is that the quartets were not subject to Russian censors, were more angry and personal like a diary, and the symphonies are more congenial, social and used the rich tonalities of the orchestra. You’ll want to read the entire article, I found it interesting. Then you’ll add some to your play list!