Shostakovich, Symphony #5

[Jeff Matthews]

Looks like I'll be going to see this symphony soon and have real good seats (front of box).

I am looking forward to it.

[LarryC]

Good! Powerful symphony, great choice. Written in the late 1930's, during the worst of Stalin's purges and secret police outrages, when many of Shosty's own friends and colleagues just "disappeared" for life! Much of that personal terror and melancholy appears in the fifth.

For some reason, Stalin and the "State" involved themselves in classical music at the time: (From Wiki: After his fall from favour in 1936 over the opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District and the ballet The Limpid Stream, Shostakovich was under pressure to simplify his music and adapt it to classical models, heroic classicism being a prime characteristic of socialist realism. An adequate portrayal of socialist realism in music meant a monumental approach and an exalted rhetoric based on optimism. Shostakovich's music was considered too complex, technically, to fall under the strictures of socialist realism. Lady Macbeth had been derided in Pravda as "a farrago of chaotic, nonsensical sounds." At the meeting of the Composers' Union weeks after the Pravda article, Lev Knipper, Boris Asafiev and Ivan Dzerzhinsky suggested that the composer should be helped to "straighten himself out." Essentially a non-person in an era of unprecedented state terrorism, Shostakovich appeared to have no choice but to comply.

Shostakovich sought the aid of Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky, one of the highest-ranking officers in the Red Army and since 1925 a patron of the composer. However, the marshal himself became a victim, convicted on a trumped-up charge of treason and shot. Many of Shostakovich's friends and relatives were arrested and disappeared, and for a year the composer feared the same would happen to him. He completed his Fourth Symphony in April but withdrew the work the following year while it was in rehearsal.

This was the situation Shostakovich faced in April 1937. If he were to do anything but yield to Party pressure, it would have to be subtle, as all eyes would be on him and whatever composition he wrote. His form of musical satire had been denounced and would not be tolerated so blatantly again. Falling back on venting his tragic side cautiously whilst otherwise toeing the line of socialist realism would amount to self-betrayal. He had to somehow turn the simplicity demanded by the authorities into a virtue, mocking it whilst in the process of turning it into great art.

Such was Stalinism, Communism, and the Soviet Union at the time!

Edited January 12, 2014 by LarryC

[Schu]

very nice... I just picked up 4-5 Shostakovich LP's from the goodwill store, they are great!

[Jeff Matthews]

This is the view from the front of the left box. http://www.houstonfirsttheaters.com/DesktopModules/Repository/MakeThumbnail.aspx?tabid=205&id=272

Our tickets will be at the front of the right box.

There are still tickets available on the floor, right in front of the stage. Same price. Some even less (a lot less) and on the front row.

I have not been to a symphony, but I am figuring those front box seats are probably about as good as it gets.

Larry, you've been to them. Should I consider close-in floor seats or stay with the front of the box? For example. I could get 3rd row from the stage, right in the middle.

Edited January 12, 2014 by Jeff Matthews

[tromprof]

I have played that symphony a bunch of times. A good blow and it never gets old. If you like Sym.5, check out his 7th symphony as well. Not performed as much because it calls for a lot of extra players.

[Jeff Matthews]

I have played that symphony a bunch of times.

Trom prof? You mean you have literally "played" it, don't you? My nephew's high school jazz band instructor is a trombonist.

Edited January 12, 2014 by Jeff Matthews

[tromprof]

I have played that symphony a bunch of times.

Trom prof? You mean you have literally "played" it, don't you? My nephew's high school jazz band instructor is a trombonist.

Yes, I am a professional bass trombone player. Sym.5 is one of those "warhorse" pieces like Tchaikovky Sym.4, and Dvorak New World. They show up on programs semi-annually.

[Jeff Matthews]

Yes, I am a professional bass trombone player.

Very cool! You are one of the lucky! I am what you'd call a "repressed musician." I love music, but never became serious enough to learn how to make it. I can play a drum set by ear.

When I listen to classical, it becomes apparent to me how those "prodigal" musicians were such capable writers. It's scales, chords, harmony and a beat. I sure wish I knew how to read/write. Now, I'm too old. Bummer.

Edited January 12, 2014 by Jeff Matthews

[tromprof]

Yes, I am a professional bass trombone player.

Very cool! You are one of the lucky!

Great job satisfaction. Also a good way to be poor.

Edited January 12, 2014 by tromprof

[Jeff Matthews]

Great job satisfaction. Also a good way to be poor.

Yep. I have had more than enough money (but not rich) and I can say as between job satisfaction and money, job satisfaction is far more important. Money is not even a close second place.

[LarryC]

Larry, you've been to them. Should I consider close-in floor seats or stay with the front of the box? For example. I could get 3rd row from the stage, right in the middle.

Hi, congrats on making this move. The front of the box is absolutely the right place.

I am a strong believer in watching as well as listening to the players. That symphony has a whole lot of action from a bunch of woodwind and brass instruments as you can see in the video. You'll have a great view of the whole spread from that box, and the front row of the box is absolutely the right place for that bird's-eye view. You may find it a challenge to spot the individual clarinet or trombone in the midst of the hubbub, but I think it's worth a try!

In contrast, close-in floor seats only get you a view of the front-row string players, and you only get to hear, but rarely actually see, the winds, brass or percussion. And you only see two or three of the five string sections -- violas have interesting parts, for example, but what if the conductor moves them back to the middle of the orchestra? You get to inspect the polish on the front-row players' shoes, basically.

Conductors are frequently very interesting, btw. You only get to see their back from center floor seats, but more from the balcony.

I remember you saying you'd like to attend a concert, but only if it were strong, rocking, and percussive (my wording). You picked the right one!

Edited January 12, 2014 by LarryC

[Jeff Matthews]

Thanks. Also, the same concert will present Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody. Not quite as much "bing, bam, bong!," but I have to say the piano is quite something else, and the orchestra really makes it dreamy.

Edited January 12, 2014 by Jeff Matthews

[LarryC]

When I listen to classical, it becomes apparent to me how those "prodigal" musicians were such capable writers. It's scales, chords, harmony and a beat.

And at least one other thing: orchestration, setting those scales, chords and harmony to specific instruments and combinations. A master composer does that very well in spades -- note where and how Shostakovich chooses to use a flute, a clarinet, very low trumpets, xylophone, and even the celesta (bell-like, played from a keyboard, closing out the first movement at 17:47 min.).

Very important, excellence here is a hallmark of the greatest composers, if you consider how the composer gets those unique sounds and how well they fit together n a work. They have to know how they're played, too.

Edited January 12, 2014 by LarryC

[Marvel]

I haven't been to the symphony in years ... While my younger son was still performing in the Chattanooga Youth Orchestra (First Trumpet), we would attend the regular Chattanooga Symphony often, as he got good rates and it was really fun to go. We always liked being in the very front of the balcony, in the center if we could. Up high enough to see everyone and the balance was great.

After he left for Valparaiso U., and my first wife passed away, I stopped going. I did attend some Valpo concerts while he was there, and he ended up as first there, too. My new wife isn't interested and calls it church music, lol. So... when she works late, it is what I listen to at home. No regrets, but I like seeing the performances.

Bruce

[Jeff Matthews]

And at least one other thing: orchestration, setting those scales, chords and harmony to specific instruments and combinations. A master composer does that very well in spades -- note where and how Shostakovich chooses to use a flute, a clarinet, very low trumpets, xylophone, and even the celesta (bell-like, played from a keyboard, closing out the first movement at 17:47 min.). Very important, excellence here is a hallmark of the greatest composers, if you consider how the composer gets those unique sounds and how well they fit together n a work. They have to know how they're played, too.

Yes. I also noticed how there are different parts for different players of the same instrument. Also, how scales are begun by one group and continued and passed along to another group in a way where it's all a continuous scalar movement, but is designed to "swirl" around the stage by using different instruments and groups.

These ideas are so basic to the entire concept of composition. I often find that with music like that, you could easily improvise and invent your own.... if you knew how the heck to read and write and had an ear that could tell you things like, "this is in C."

For example, listen to this Genesis at 16:40. That, right there, is a basic symphony. If you had 15-20 strings and some horns to add, you could really go to town with something like that.

Edited January 13, 2014 by Jeff Matthews

[LarryC]

_{Another fundamental building block is the structure, or "form" into which the composer carefully weaves into the scales, harmonies, etc. It's the structure that gives the piece its strong sense of a beginning, segments in the middle, and closing. This is partly based on how the themes and motifs are sequenced and developed in relation to each other.}

_{Good classical music is strongly dependent on a sense of where it's going and how it gets there -- elements I often find are weaker in some classical-sounding music that doesn't quite make the grade.}

_{Here is a great work for piano alone, no other instruments to contrast or bat around the stage to create a sense of variety:}

_{http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVARN4_GcS4}

_{Note the strong sense of a brilliantly structured beginning, development, and closing. The work is, of course, the famous, instantly recognizable first movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. This selection gives a great view of the artist's hands and fingers playing every note! Done with only one player and one instrument.}

Edited January 13, 2014 by LarryC

[Jeff Matthews]

It's the structure that gives the piece its strong sense of a beginning, segments in the middle, and closing.

Good classical music is strongly dependent on a sense of where it's going and how it gets there...

I like that Beethoven.

Speaking of structure, being that I have a very limited experience, I will resort back to "rock" and point out that this ELP is really cool in the way it takes you on a journey in a futuristic, terror-filled tragedy. 6:49 is sort of the climax. It's like "running for your life so hard that you're out of control and just leaving it all to fate."

[LarryC]

Not to overdo Beethoven piano sonatas, but speaking of climaxes, here's the last movement of his "Appassionata"

[Jeff Matthews]

That was really good! Never heard it before, but I almost felt like clapping at the end.

[Jeff Matthews]

Oh, and I got the seats. Seats 1 and 2 in the first row of the box.

What's the prevailing attire at these events? Suits, I presume, but am just wondering.