A talent he never fully realized.

@@muslit hmm....interesting. How so? Apart from living in a happier and freer environment (which while typing this comment I'm fully aware is the vast majority of one's surrounding pressures and influences) I honestly think he realised his talent incredibly, and in spite of the incredible pressure he was under (particularly under the Stalin regime, until the last of Stalin's main subordinates exited their posts of power in 1956) composed some incredible works, and not just the likes of his most famous Symphony No. 5 but also at the very height of his composing powers slightly later that resulted in works like the absolute masterpieces that are Symphonies No. 10 (1956) and No. 11 (1957). While I know that Shostakovich is a hard composer for most to easily warm to, those 3 symphonies I mentioned plus so many more of his works will blow virtually anyone away when witnessed live in performance. Shostakovich is always a gripping experience when witnessed live (in person) in performance!! ☺️ Edit = Symphony No. 5*, NOT the previous typo of "6"

@@robertdora7026 I just don't agree. S is a horribly uneven composer, musically speaking. The only symphony which succeeds (almost) fully is no.14, the least performed of the 15, because it is the most unique, and really not a symphony at all. Furthermore, he purposely wrote bad music, which was meant to comment on the powers that be, but mostly went over their heads, i.e. the end of the 5th symphony, which taken at the tempo S indicates, is total bombast, compared with the rest of the symphony. Prokoviev never resorted to this, and the quality of his output is more even, including the works written specifically in the shadow of Soviet dogma. More recently I feel S's biography has influenced people to appraise works of his which in fact have little real, musical interest, like many of his autobiographical string quartets. I'm emphasizing here the autobiographical as opposed to the actual music. I don't doubt that Shostakovich's music has some popular appeal. As a composer myself, I think the talent he obviously possessed from early on was never allowed to flower in a consistent manner. Perhaps if he had lived in a freely artistic country, the result might have been different, or the same. No one knows. I might add, in terms of musical consistency, that Alban Berg heard the premiere of Shostakovich's First Symphony (or at least one of the first performances), and wrote to Arnold Schoenberg that S was a major talent. But he was only speaking of the first movement - not of the entire work - which impressed him the most. This was typical of the response to S's works for decades: passages of genius mingled with the mediocre.

@@muslit fair enough. Cheers

This is bad

you nailed it correctly in saying he was "mischievous" ... but he was so in an "unmischievous" kind of way that "Uncle Joe" never figured out ... its this particular Mischievousness that kept Shostakovich alive! (whereas the great Russian poet Osip Mandelshtam was also mischievous, but too obviously so and it cost him his life)

Then came the Great Leader & Teacher... to Steel his spine w/opus 47...

@@pravemet4427 Dmitri would disagree. There were times he was sure they would deport him. And that Stalin "didn't figure it out"... dear me, that's all you can come up with?

The massive tutti halfway through the first movement after the violin solos always gives me chills

It's got the spirit of a 19 year old: mercurial and extravagant and mischievous. He was a genius with a mature talent, but he still had a teenage soul.

@@nicholasschroeder3678 no doubt. this is/was just a beginning.

@@wanderer8911 And he never lost it. Even in his many dreary, dead-serious horrors of war and Stalin epics, there are moments of play and defiance--he never forgot how to launch a spitball.

Definitely one of the best conductors we have today. There are not that many in his class.

Digga entspann dich

Sie trinken vermutlich auch Wein von Aldi. lol

Rohhahn

Can't agree Period !!!!!!

the best symphonies of Shostakovich were his first 15 ... presumably he is still writing ... somewhere ... and if he's where I hope he is, his newer symphonies can only be better ... if that's possible

there are 5 soloists just in first violins, and i got to be a lucky solo cello when i played this in orchestra

BTW does anyone know the names of the oboe section?

Thank you!

Part of me has always felt this. His 1st symphony has so much mystery in it. I never get tired of it. I am partial to his 8th string quartet, though. :o)

After 5th and 11th 😁

@@Tortuosit They're very good too, but no 1 for me is Superb!

@@tintinsnowyful I will take his 10th & 11th string Quartets over #8 any day!

possibly the greatest if you say so, but he's still writing somewhere and we haven't heard his latest ... not yet anyway, but hopefully ... soon?!

Check Vienna Philharmonic under Decca Label in the late 1950s and 1960s, it's sound engineers were much much ahead of their time.

your favourite orchestra? and whats your favourite food? burgers?

lol

lmao

Hhaahahahhaahahahha u made me the day

Вам будет ещё веселей когда он взорвёт бомбу.

Boy had that joke not aged well

I loved that. It looks like the camera man was trying to downplay it. But you could tell the trombonists weren't taking any chances. Duck. And cover!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAH WO, I didn´t notice

@@tintinsnowyful Yea. Like the old Duck and Cover adds in the 1950s

Ya they had no lungs left at the end of the performamnce.

even the conductor tries tp hlod his laugh

Second movement: doesn't end Audience: I'm about to end this man's whole career

At least they held it for long enough; would’ve been awkward if they started coughing in the middle of the movement

This talented flautist IS Clara Andrea de la calle from Spain. Everyone IS in love with her 😍😉

good comment ... kine of like that great writer of opera Joe Green

Michael Schlechtriem I couldn't agree more

@@aclassicaldisaster While I agree with you, the 3rd (& last) movement of the 6th Symphony does bring out some humor as well!! The real rage is mostly in his string quartets!

Haha, this is his most upbeat one! If you really want to jump off the bridge it's the string quartets you want.

If this one feels sad, I think you’ll be bawling by the time you hear his 15th symphony (Middle movements especially)

It does feel sad, but it has just enough humour to keep me afloat

A movie composers were trained in these guys and borrowed the ideas and techniques. Shotokovich, btw, played the piano for silent films to pick up cash. I think that experience can be heard in lots of his music.

Shostakovich in "bad economic"" times as a young man made a living playing piano while silent movies were being shown ... most of what he played was ad lib ... his chosen response to what he saw on the screen ... the only "synchroniization" was with the wit of the great composer ...

better protect your ears

тяжёлая? не совсем

this should not come as a surprise as most true music lovers can hear five bars of any score and come close to almost always guessing who the composer was ... composers are well aware of repeating themselves and work hard not to ... but then if they'd had success with certain phrasing or chords or whatever, why not repeat to some extent? Even more than this, when Shostakovich wrote his 7th symphony he was "afraid" parts of it sounded too much like "Bolero" ... so composers try not to copy other composers at least inadvertently ... unless of course your name is Salieri