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Topic: shostakovich's 15th symphony  (Read 2304 times)

Offline BoliverAllmon

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shostakovich's 15th symphony
on: April 18, 2005, 03:02:12 PM
I just listened to Shostakovich's 15th symphony and fell absolutely in love with it. No one else can turn the William Tell overture into some kid-like motif like shosty can. Great stuff.
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Offline ahmedito

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Re: shostakovich's 15th symphony
Reply #1 on: April 19, 2005, 05:18:42 PM
Read up on it. It is one my favourites and there are tons of really cool facts about it that will help you understand the music even more.

Two that come to mind:

- This symphony is made out of lots and LOTS and solo lines. Partly, the cause of this is the fact that Shostakovitch was really old by then and found writing a lot quite hard.

- The third movement started as part of an unfinished violin concerto.

- The symphonys nickname (by the composer) is something along the lines of "The Toy Shop", and behind this innocent sounding title there is something a lot more sinister hiding (which can be readily heard in the music, which can be interpreted in both ways). The soviets central Toy Shop used to stand in front of the Soviet central Prison for political offenders.
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Offline BoliverAllmon

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Re: shostakovich's 15th symphony
Reply #2 on: April 20, 2005, 06:33:21 PM
Quote from: Fernandito on April 19, 2005, 05:18:42 PM
Read up on it. It is one my favourites and there are tons of really cool facts about it that will help you understand the music even more.

Two that come to mind:

- This symphony is made out of lots and LOTS and solo lines. Partly, the cause of this is the fact that Shostakovitch was really old by then and found writing a lot quite hard.

- The third movement started as part of an unfinished violin concerto.

- The symphonys nickname (by the composer) is something along the lines of "The Toy Shop", and behind this innocent sounding title there is something a lot more sinister hiding (which can be readily heard in the music, which can be interpreted in both ways). The soviets central Toy Shop used to stand in front of the Soviet central Prison for political offenders.

yeah, the background to this piece is absolutely cool. I am thinking of listening to his first violin concerto this weekend.

I absolutely dig all of his music.

boliver
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Offline BoliverAllmon

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Re: shostakovich's 15th symphony
Reply #3 on: April 20, 2005, 06:34:02 PM
I guess the idea of the prison came out towards the end when he stated the Wagner motive?
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