Shostakovich Symphony 10 Pdf

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Itseems I have run across a very interesting page on my smart phone. Conductors and talented players talking about the importance of pacing a great piece of music. To thyself be true. I love and admire classical orchestras. You bring to us who listen a great joy to our lives. I bought a ticket to hear my first shostakovich in person. One of my favorites the #5. The conductor gustavo dudamel and the los angeles symphony. Located in los angeles at the fantastic looking walt disney concert hall. I love the upper mid balcony for its great sound and detail. I know it will sound just great. MY first visit there. from what I have heard about dudamel l know he can.handle this great piece of work with all the right pace and strength of emotion needed for such a beautiful symphony. at home I love my CD #5 version by the Cleveland orchestra on telarc maazel conducting. love reading your page. music listener.

Yakov Milkis, a violinist with the Leningrad Philharmonic from 1957-1974, told of standing next to Shostakovich on the deck of a ferry from England to France. As they stood, Milkis told Shostakovich that

Three note phrases: Shostakovich used simple three-note phrases built on intervals of a major or minor second throughout the symphony. A three-note phrase begins the symphony, and versions of the phrase may be heard quite clearly at the beginnings of the second and fifth movements. The range of musical and emotional moods Shostakovich created with that small element is nothing short of astonishing.

The tempo slows on flutes, accompanied by violas [13 10:36]. Little by little, the orchestral texture increases. Cellos join the violas; oboes and clarinets echo and embellish the figures first sounded on the flutes [13 11:10]. The cor anglais joins the flutes on their ascent; the bass clarinet, bassoons, contrabassoon, and contrabasses enter; and, even as the highest notes rise upward, the orchestral color descends into its deepest reach [14 11:55]. The horns lead in the rest of the brass. The timpani sounds, then a marching drum, and the piccolo shrieks [17 12:50]. The urgency of the music continues to increase. The orchestra climbs on a martial beat, drawing back as dissonant horns accompany rising violins [19-20 13:04], soon joined by winds, strings, and other brass, in a relentless surge of notes and sound. To sharp chords on brass and contrabasses, the tempo accelerates, and the rhythm abruptly shifts [33 14:25]. The winds shriek; the density of notes increases; the horns call out. The music ascends, then drops into a relentless march [43 15:38]. A drumroll and timpani issue in two thundering orchestral chords; within them, the brass proclaim a three-note phrase [49-50 16:40]. Brass proclamations issue in three more huge chords, and the chords stop as abruptly as they had begun.

A bassoon opens the movement on a three-note phrase with spare interjections from bassoon and contrabassoon. The strings enter on a lyrical sweep that swells briefly and subsides. A lone flute comes dancing in [144 1:39], accompanied on triangle and pizzicato strings, with three-note legato phrases on horn. The flute and strings drop out, and lower register winds and cor anglais enter on a staccato figure over which cellos introduce a long-limbed lyrical line. Oboes enter with a trace of laughter [146 3:03], pushing aside the cellos to offer their own turn at lyricism, punctuated by bassoons. The cor anglais comes in[146 3:33], then all drop out.

Credits: Quotations may be found at the sources linked in the text, at the page or location shown in brackets. The sources for images used in the post are at the following links: First and second images of Shostakovich, Album cover. The remaining photographs are mine.

Thanks to David N for saving me $36 on the Cambridge book and to you, Susan, for making sure I read his comment! Given all my Schnittke CDs, reading an interview is almost superfluous, but I shall look it up anyway. Last night I had a long schmooze with Scott Miller, who was impressed when I told him that Schnittke had written for trombone and organ (the piece was worth almost the whole Juilliard series for me). The only performance I found was on an o/p CD, though preserved happily on YouTube. Interested to hear your reactions.

I think you missed the live performance, Susan. ( =C8EFEQQ5EsI)

Fantastic journey you are on here Sue. I wish I had your spirit, and the time, but then again, we are all different and part of the tapestry and therein lies the interest. Technical knowledge, of which I for one have little, must surely bring its own rewards.

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Yesterday, Dmitri Shostakovich would have been 111. And to celebrate this, it's finally time to write a blog post about my favourite piece. I'm going to try and restrain myself. I know it's a bit cliche to love the piece you studied at A level, but it just goes to show how there's so much to be gained in terms of appreciation from musical study. At least in my opinion.

Shostakovich lived in Soviet Russia, where people's lives were in danger if they were thought, to any extent, to be against Stalin's regime. At night, people would just disappear. People were suffering in many ways, and for a composer, it was hard for this not to come across. Shostakovich's opera 'Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District' was written before this symphony, and after is premier a scathing report of its music, calling it 'a muddle instead of music' appeared in the national paper. Some argue that the article was written by Stalin himself. Needless to say, Shostakovich feared for his life. People would cross the street to avoid him, so he had to do something.

Enter the fifth symphony, premiered before his even more challenging fourth to save himself further trouble. The composer dubbed this as his response to 'just criticism', and this itself paved the way to what was a very equivocal musical work. Was the criticism 'just' as in fair, or 'just criticism' and no praise? The music offers to helpful solution. Thematically, parts of the music could be seen as military in nature, something to perhaps reinforce the might of Russia. Nationalism, if you like. The piece is full of these grand musical statements of might and power. However, there are also twisted moments, such as very strained high notes, unusual harmonies and harmonic progressions and bending the rules of structure. Perhaps, then, this is a work of apology that serves another purpose - to quietly rebel. Perhaps the moments of might and triumph are about the triumph of Shostakovich himself, the individual, rather than the state. And then, of course, there's the third movement, which is clearly full of emotional turmoil. How did he get away with that? And is it that movement, rather than the triumphant ending, which earned the piece a 30 minute standing ovation at its premier?

But this piece represents more than just a musical rebellion in that sense. Its musical language displays a trend towards a new wave of musical rule breaking. 'Neoclassicism' takes classical structures, harmonies and ideas and begins to (for Shostakovich - cheekily) break them down and almost mock them. To mock, yet be seriously inspired by the past of the art form was something which in my opinion none did better than Shostakovich. And that's barely even scratching the surface of why he is my favourite composer....

Unfortunately, this recording would make for a superb teaching case for how the whole can be less than the sum of its parts. The entire first movement is a mouthwatering feast for the auditory senses, and sets the table creaking with goodies. But movements 2 and 3 fail to deliver on the pre-election promise, and leave the listener feeling slightly cheated on just what could have been. There is a lot of frenetic playing that seems frenetic for its own sake, and a degree of frenetic sameness seems to take hold. But with repeated listenings it fails to gel as a cohesive whole. So, in summary, it has a lot going for it, but falls short of being a reference.

Vasily Sinaisky, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Live at the Proms in 2000, CD. This was a CD giveaway with the BBC Music Magazine back in 2000, one of many which were of a quality waaaaay above what you would expect as a freebie. As a live Prom concert recording, the sound quality falls short of that offered by some of the outstanding recordings here, and the performance itself is also not going to win my top award, but both are worthy of a solid mid-pack listing. Sinaisky scores points for the air of mystery and understated menace which pervades this interpretation. Take this short passage from the first movement:

Bernard Haitink, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Recorded in 1979 as part of a complete symphony cycle, on CD. Haitink has always been one of my go-to conductors, but here with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, his effort also falls wide of the mark. There is an element of cacophony to the sound, and while that is undoubtedly inherent in the symphony, and arguably even desirable in an ideal performance, here it just fails to hang together. Try this passage, from the opening movement:

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