jmc's classics
Today is the birthday of Demetri Shostakovich (1906-1975) one of the leading composers of the 20th Century. he was a soviet composer of Russian and more remotely of Polish decent. His son Maxim Shostakovich is a leading conductor. The younger Shostakovich has been off and on with the New Orleans Philharmonic and has promoted his father's works.
Shostakovich was friends with Mstislav Rostropovich the famed Russian cellist. He wrote 15 each symphonies and string quartets. He was not affected by "the curse of the ninth" like many earlier composers were. He lived in the Soviet Union Some of his works were criticized and sentured by Soviet authorities. I have wrote about the situation of musicians and other artisans in the former Soviet Union. He did visit the united states in 1949 to promote his music. This was during the Cold War period. His most famous works were his Fifth and Tenth Symphonies. I have a copy of the Fifth Symphony. It is the Leonard Slatkin and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra version which I recommend. I have heard his Cello Concertos. He wrote music for Soviet films. I am not familiar with films from the former Soviet Union. Most of them were propaganda. He wrote Two piano trios which I have not yet heard. The piano trio is not as popular today. Shostakovich was remembered as obsessed about cleanliness and his house being kept clean and neat. He could have been considered a 'neat freak'. In the 1968 movie "In The Shoes of the Fishermen" staring Anthony Quin and Laurence Olivier there is reference made to Shostakovich. His music was known in the west. He made the cover of Time Magazine on July 20 1942 when the Soviet Union was our ally during WWll. The above mentioned movie is a movie about the Vatican. It involves the election of a Soviet block cardinal being elected pope. It shows some scenes about the election of popes and what goes on at the Vatican and is prophetic. Ten years after it was released a cardinal from behind the Iron Curtain was elected pope. His music is worth listening to and hearing. Although he wrote for the Soviet government his music should be listened to. Some of his music was commissioned by the Communist Party. He was not Jewish but some of his music had Jewish themes He "Was Intrigued by Jewish music's ability to build jolly melodies on sad themes" The Soviet Union had a strong Jewish community.
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