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JUD:
My Beethoven collection is extensive, though my favourites are Shostakovitch, Mahler, and Sibelius.
GARY C MOORE:
Just for trivial information, I like all four, but most especially Dimitri Shostakovitch. Not only his his music the most powerful ever written, but the man is a true hero himself. Once, Stalin called in three composers, including Shostakovitch, and started screaming at them and threatening to have them shot. Only Shostakovitch did not shit in his pants. Stalin thought that was hilarious.
Shostakovitch's song cycles are amongst the very best of his music. Have you heard any of them? Some, like his SONGS TO HEBREW MELODIES, have very interesting stories begin them. But I do not remember it exactly except it was composed during the "Cosmopolitan" part of Zhadnov's purge ("Cosmopolitan" was a euphemism for "Jew"). And then there is, of course, Symphony # 13 "Babi Yar".
However, Shostakovitch only survived by becoming an "internal imigrant" -- there is a special Russian term for it which I have forgotten -- and was a nervous wreck and a chain smoker. He was a very quiet man and always tried to stand in the background. When Igor Stravinsky finally broke down and came to the USSR in the 1960s, he met in Leningrad the day before he returned to the US he met all the 'major' composers of the Soviet Union. Kabalevsky was a big blow-hard and occupied the conversation all to himself. Shostakovitch said nothing. But next day, when Stravinsky was literally walking to hisplain, Shostakovitch ran up to him and gave him a piano reduction he had made of Stravinsky's SYMPHONY OF PSALMS.
Prokoviev, whom I also greatly like, was more open with his views of the Soviet establishment. When Zhadnov was starting the next great round of purges in 1949, he held a conference of all the Soviet composers at Leningrad and read out a list specifying the political mistakes each composer had committed in his music. WHILE HE WAS SPEAKING, Prokoviev got up from his seat and walked down the aisle to Shostakovitch, asked for a handkerchief, and loudly blew his nose. I guess he showed in that way he appreciated to some extent Shotakovitch's music. In a strange sort of irony, Prokoviev died within the same hour that Stalin died. Zhadnov himself became, in typical Stalin fashion, a victim of the very purge he started.
'Sincerely'
Gary C. Moore
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<P>JUD: <BR>My Beethoven collection is extensive, though my favourites are Shostakovitch, Mahler, and Sibelius. <BR><BR>GARY C MOORE:</P>
<P>Just for trivial information, I like all four, but <EM><STRONG>most</STRONG></EM> especially Dimitri Shostakovitch. Not only his his music the most powerful ever written, but the man is a true hero himself. Once, Stalin called in three composers, including Shostakovitch, and started screaming at them and threatening to have them shot. Only Shostakovitch did not shit in his pants. Stalin thought that was hilarious.</P>
<P>Shostakovitch's song cycles are amongst the very best of his music. Have you heard any of them? Some, like his <STRONG>SONGS TO HEBREW MELODIES</STRONG>, have very interesting stories begin them. But I do not remember it exactly except it was composed during the "Cosmopolitan" part of Zhadnov's purge ("Cosmopolitan" was a euphemism for "Jew"). And then there is, of course, Symphony # 13 "Babi Yar".</P>
<P>However, Shostakovitch only survived by becoming an "internal imigrant" -- there is a special Russian term for it which I have forgotten -- and was a nervous wreck and a chain smoker. He was a very quiet man and always tried to stand in the background. When Igor Stravinsky finally broke down and came to the USSR in the 1960s, he met in Leningrad the day before he returned to the US he met all the 'major' composers of the Soviet Union. Kabalevsky was a big blow-hard and occupied the conversation all to himself. Shostakovitch said nothing. But next day, when Stravinsky was literally walking to hisplain, Shostakovitch ran up to him and gave him a piano reduction he had made of Stravinsky's <STRONG><EM>SYMPHONY OF PSALMS. </EM></STRONG></P>
<P>Prokoviev, whom I also greatly like, was more open with his views of the Soviet establishment. When Zhadnov was starting the next great round of purges in 1949, he held a conference of all the Soviet composers at Leningrad and read out a list specifying the political mistakes each composer had committed in his music. <STRONG><EM>WHILE HE WAS SPEAKING</EM></STRONG>, Prokoviev got up from his seat and walked down the aisle to Shostakovitch, asked for a handkerchief, and loudly blew his nose. I guess he showed in that way he appreciated to some extent Shotakovitch's music. In a strange sort of irony, Prokoviev died within the same hour that Stalin died. Zhadnov himself became, in typical Stalin fashion, a victim of the very purge he started.</P>
<P>'Sincerely'</P>
<P>Gary C. Moore</P><p><br><hr size=1><b>Do You Yahoo!?</b><br>
<a href="
http://health.yahoo.com/";>Yahoo! Health</a> - Feel better, live better
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