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Dmitry Shostakovich
Dmitry Shostakovich was a Russian composer whose symphonies and quartets, numbering 15 each, are among the greatest examples of these classic forms from the twentieth century. His style evolved from the brash humor and experimental character of his first period, exemplified by the operas The Nose and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, into both the more introverted melancholy and nationalistic fervor of his second phase (the Symphonies No. 5 and No. 7, "Leningrad"), and finally into the defiant and bleak mood of his last period (exemplified by the Symphony No. 14 and Quartet No. 15). Early in his career his music showed the influence of Prokofiev and Stravinsky, especially in his prodigious and highly successful First Symphony. He could effectively communicate a melancholic depth and profound sense of anguish, as one hears in many of his symphonies, concertos, and quartets. Solomon Volkov, in his controversial {-Testimony: The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich} explains the composer's seeming bombast as deft satire of the pomposity of the Soviet state, pointing to the "forced rejoicing" of Fifth Symphony's ending. Typical traits of Shostakovich's style include short reiterated melodic or rhythmic figures, motifs of one or two pitches or intervals, and lugubrious and manic string writing.
Shostakovich was born in St. Petersburg, in 1906, and educated at the Petrograd Conservatory. The acid style of his early Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk irritated Stalin, and Shostakovich was attacked in the Soviet press. Fearing imprisonment, he withdrew his already rehearsed Fourth Symphony; his Fifth Symphony (1937) carried the subtitle "A Soviet Artist's Reply to Just Criticism." It is more ingenious than most critics have fathomed, for it managed to satisfy both the backward tastes of the party censors and those of more demanding aesthetes in the West.
The 1941 German invasion of Russia inspired the composer's Seventh Symphony, subtitled "Leningrad." Impressed by the symphony's epic-heroic character, Toscanini, Koussevitsky, and Stokowski vied for the Western Hemisphere premiere; the score had to be microfilmed, flown to Teheran, driven to Cairo, and flown out. The work became an enormous success the world over, but eventually fell into obscurity. Still, the composer had for a time become a worldwide celebrity, his picture even appearing on the cover of Time.
Shostakovich ran afoul of the government again in 1948, when an infamous decree was issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party accusing Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and other prominent composers of "formalist perversions." For some time he wrote mostly works glorifying Soviet life or history. Artistic repression diminished in post-Stalinist Russia, but curiously Shostakovich still drew in his modernist horns until the Thirteenth Symphony, "Babi Yar," a 1962 work based on poems by Yevgeny Yevtushenko. The work provoked major controversy because of its first movement's subject: Russian oppression of the Jews.
In 1966 Shostakovich wrote his Second Cello Concerto, a work on an even higher level than his solid First, but one which has yet to capture as much attention from either artists or the public. That year, Shostakovich was diagnosed with a serious heart condition. He continued to compose, his works growing more sparsely scored and darker, the subject of death becoming prominent. His Fourteenth Symphony (1969), really a collection of songs on texts by Lorca, Apollinaire, Küchelbecker, and Rilke, is a death-obsessed work of considerable dissonance and showing little regard for the Socialist Realism still demanded by the state. Shostakovich died on August 9, 1975. ~ AMG, All Music Guide
Nationality: Russia
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Glazunov, Shostakovich, Khachaturian and othersAram Il´yich Khachaturian, Leonid Vladimirovich Nikolayev, Vjaceslav Gavrilovich Kar red line |
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Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and othersSobotka, Slovak, Wildner, Mogrelia, Wordsworth, Antonin Dvorak Trio, Capella Istropol NAXOS |
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Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No1, Op107; Cello Concerto No2, Op126Wit, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra NAXOS |
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Shostakovich: Gadfly Suite Op97a; Five Days Op111aKuchar, Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra NAXOS |
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Shostakovich: Preludes & Fugues Op87Konstantin Scherbakov, Andrew Walton, Dmitry Shostakovich NAXOS |
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Shostakovich: String Quartet No 12 Op133; String Quartet No 2 Op68Eder Quartet NAXOS |
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Shostakovich: String Quartet No 3 Op73; String Quartet No 5 Op92Eder Quartet NAXOS |
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Shostakovich: String Quartet No 8 Op110; String Quartet No 9 Op117Eder Quartet NAXOS |
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Shostakovich: Symphony No5, Op47; Symphony No9, Op70Rahbari, Belgian Radio and Television Philharmonic Orchestra NAXOS |
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Shostakovich: Symphony No6, Op54; Symphony No12, Op112Slovak, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra NAXOS |
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Shostakovich: Symphony No7, Op60Slovak, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra NAXOS |
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Shostakovich: Trio No2, Op67; Trio No1, Op8Stockholm Arts Trio NAXOS |
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Shostakovich: Violin Concerto in Am No1, Op77/99; Violin Concerto No2, Op129Wit, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra NAXOS |
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Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Davidov and othersGeringas, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra NAXOS |
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Shostakovich: Symphony No. 9; Piano Concerto No. 1; etc.Polyansky, Cappella, Russian State Symphony Orchestra Chandos |
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Shostakovich: Symphony No1, Op10; Symphony No6, Op54Jarvi, Royal Scottish National Orchestra Chandos |
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Shostakovich: Symphony No10, Op93Slovak, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra NAXOS |
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Shostakovich: Symphony No10, Op93; Ballet Suite No4Jarvi, Royal Scottish National Orchestra Chandos |
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Shostakovich: Symphony No10, Op93; Big LightningPolyansky, Cappella, Russian State Symphony Orchestra Chandos |
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Shostakovich: Symphony No13, Op113Polyansky, Cappella, Russian State Symphony Orchestra Chandos |
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Shostakovich: Symphony No13, Op113Slovak, Chorus, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra NAXOS |
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Shostakovich: Symphony No4, Op43Slovak, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra NAXOS |
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Shostakovich: Symphony No4, Op43Jarvi, Royal Scottish National Orchestra Chandos |
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Shostakovich: Symphony No6, Op54; Execution of Stepan Razin Op119Polyansky, Cappella, Russian State Symphony Orchestra Chandos |
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Shostakovich: Symphony No7, Op60Polyansky, Russian State Symphony Orchestra Chandos |
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Shostakovich: Symphony No7, Op60Dmitry Yablonsky, Alexander Karasev, Dmitry Shostakovich NAXOS |
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Shostakovich: Symphony No8, Op65Slovak, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra NAXOS |
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Shostakovich: Symphony No8, Op65Jarvi, Royal Scottish National Orchestra Chandos |
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Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3; Khachaturian: Piano Concerto; Shostakovich: Three PreludesDorati, Koussevitzky, Khachaturian, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orches NAXOS |
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Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No1, Op107; Cello Concerto No2, Op126Polyansky, Russian State Symphony Orchestra Chandos |
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