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Shostakovich


vladoicho

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Yes, he is pretty much the Metallica of his day, when it comes to strings. I was listening to his Chamber Symphony Op. 110, its pretty {censored}ing awesome. Especially the "Attaco" mvt. Pretty much metal with violins.

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The other night I saw a documentary on OPB [PBS] about him. Particularly his 5th symphony. You see, he had become a popular composer in the USSR and had done the scores to some movies along with symphonies and such. He had done the score to a version of Lady MacBeth. Stalin went and saw it and did not approve. Thought the play was vulgar and violent, and that the music was too complex and basically sucked for lack of a better term. Shostakovich was basically told that he had better start writing music that was more "in line with the views of the party"; or face "a date with a fate in a black sedan". He wrote a piece that was simple enough to be accepted, but retain some artistic integrity. He put careful little undertones in the piece to conceal it's true meaning; and as a result, it was recieved differently by the officals and the public. The officials viewed it as a story of triumph for the Stalinist party over their rivals. The public viewed it as the story of struggle for the common man being oppressed and shipped off to the Gulags. In the end; he regained his standing, but apparently it was a really scary time in his life that changed him forever. He was basically writing for his life. Many of his friends and associates had already been arrested and either shot or shipped off to the Gulags (I would probably rather have been shot). He would sleep outside of his appartment so that of the goons did come for him, his family would be spared the memory of seeing him hauled off. Some crazy stuff. Makes me want to check out some of his work (particularly the stuff that got him into trouble).

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