I can't wait for the day that Daniel Radcliffe is old enough to play an anxious Shostakovich under Stalin's thumb.

Thank you so much for taking my request!

I got to meet Yevgeny Yevtushenko and hear him recite his poem Babi Yar which Shostakovich based the choral text of his 13th symphony. Yevtushenko said Shostakovich called him and asked for permission and Yevtushenko said of course and asked when will the music be ready? Shostakovich said the music is already finished and invited Yevtushenko over and Shostakovich played through the music on piano and sang the choral part. Hearing this story was one of the most thrilling moments of my young life. I still have an autograph book from Yevtushenko that includes Babi Yar.

He's a hero. Period.

Doing an essay on Shostakovich for my degree and this as an intro has been invaluable. Thank you.

Thank you for your video about Shostakovitch. Perhaps writing letters to himself was not so much to check on the postal service efficiency as to see if his lstters actually arrived or had been censored or even been made to disappear? Scary times

Shostakovich deserves a movie

Thank you! I have always loved Shostakovich and I'm thinking about writing my Music History research paper on him. Your information has been a great starting point and I really appreciate your taking the time to make this!

A good overview and glad you mentioned his fondness for Jewish folk music. His melodic style has much in common with the spirit of this music.

I encountered the fifth while still at school. I had a mental picture of this musical collosus be-striding the world with the march from the finale. It was a surprise to discover that DSCH was a nervous, chain-smoking, quivering little man with thick glasses! I had a similar experience with Ronald Smith, the pianist who used to tackle the various monumental and unplayable piano works in the repertoire. I imagined a broad-backed man bent over the piano, a look of furious concentration on his red, sweating face as he wrestled with the instrument. When I finally saw him play, I watched a diminutive scholarly little man with the demeanour of a retired church vicar. Life's full of surprises! ;)

As always, you cram a vast amount of researched information into a short space of time. It's a pity you didn't find 30 seconds to mention the 15th Symphony. One of the strangest pieces I think he ever wrote, But nevertheless this is a vastly educational video. Brilliant.

Mon Dieu... Thanks for this wonderful Shostakovich midrash...!! So glad to find your channel. Much to catch up on, details of the lives & times of composers I have loved since the 1950s-60s. MegaGratsies for citiing Volkov's intimate witness accounts, in *Testimony*... One of my favorite S. quotes presented there was, "I like to be treated with respect." (@ age 12... ; ) "I do, dear Dmitri... "

I love all the facts about composers I’ve learned from this channel! 🙏🎼❤️

Thank you for the video! I would say that I don't agree with you about "The Nose": this opera is based on a well known (then as well) short story by Nikolai Gogol, who is a classical author, so I don't think anyone could be surprised by the grotesque plot you've mentioned, but, perhaps, rather by the very choice of Shostakovich to write an opera based on that story, i. e. by the incompatibility of the plot and the genre. And by the music itself, I guess!

thanks

Old video but just to point out, there are a few inaccuracies I'd like to address. The "A Soviet Artist's Response to Just Criticism" description of the 5th wasn't given to it by Shostakovich, but was coined by a journalist, according to the biography by Elizabeth Wilson. As for the "anti-Stalin messages" in the symphonies, many, if not all, of these are more interpretation and speculation than anything (by no means am I trying to suggest Shostakovich supported Stalin- we have his secret satirical piece, the "Antiformalist Rayok," that confirms his stance on that matter). Also (and I made this mistake too in an essay once!), his evacuation in 1941 was not by helicopter, but by plane. The 1948 denunciations were carried out mainly under Andrei Zhdanov, not directly Stalin as the video implies (hence the "Zhdanovshchina" decree). As for the interpretation of the 10th Symphony as a statement of individuality/triumph, I'd also like to point out that not only is this interpretation supported by the use of the DSCH motif and the year of its composition, but also the "ELMIRA" motif (alluding to Elmira Nazirova, a former student, friend, and brief romantic interest of his at the time) and quotations of Mahler's works (Shostakovich's 4th symphony, also musically very similar to Mahler, was withdrawn).

Great videos, very informative. I really like his 15 String Quarter's. Have you ever considered dealing with David Tudor?

Wow! an excellent overview of the complexities of the musical and social agendas colliding in the person of Shostakovich. My admiration of him soars. Thank You enormously.

The Nose is 100% made cos of Gogols: The Nose.

There is a great Documentary about Shostakovic. It's called "Shostakovic against Stalin, The war symphonies" by Larry Weinstein (about 2 Hours) I really like your narrative style, giving alot of context :)

Over on the Gresham college channel there are some nice lectures on Shostakovitch with some more recent insights. Like the meaning of the Bizet quotation and the 150 a's in the last movement of the fifth.

Love your channel! Ever consider a video on Don van Vliet aka Captain Beefheart?

0:00 ah yes, V from Piano Quintet in G

Great stuff! I can see you have quite a lot of books on music. Do you have any recommendations? What are your favorite books on music ? (Anything on music: theory, bios, treatises, etc) Just looking for some good reads...

Music history teachers talk about Stalin and Shostakovich as if Stalin spent all his time agonizing over Shostakovich’s intent. Maybe he did... but I think Stalin had more pressing matters on his mind.

Thank you!

Could you do a video on the composer Samuel - Coleridge Taylor?

Love of vodka... Shostakov...HICUP! And I want to hear that quartet and have a recording of it in the Shostakovitch manner, so I can kill flies at my home! But seriously, it made me curious how it would sound.

I personally know someone who has performed with Maxim Shostakovich, Dimitri's son.

Awesome video

Can you do videos on Krenek or Lutoslawski?

There's a page on the military history wiki about the premier of Shostakovich 7.

I love Shostakovich

I wonder if Shostakovich considered himself a more pure Leninist, rather than a Stalinistic Leninist...

Shostakovich always lived with a packed suitcase. Many of his composer friends were murdered because their musical style was rejected by Stalin. Such was life and is life for all kinds of artists under authoritarian regimes of the past present or future, no matter their political beliefs.

Im so sad you didn't talk about his 9th symphony

i was hoping to hear a comparison between his 2nd piano concerto and beethoven's 5th

Have you seen the 1963 animated version of The Nose?

Stalin so bad God gave him Shot's curse of the ninth.

"Evacuated via helicopter"? Did you check that one? ;)

You should get on Twitter

8:21 Khachaturian too

Stalin Gothic music

Listening to what was it like to live in the Soviet Union under Stalin is soo much fun... I think we should pool money to send SJWs to Cuba with just a one way ticket. If they love communism so much, let they enjoy it to the fullest.