In Reply to: Of course posted by Chris from Lafayette on March 27, 2017 at 16:51:16:
for me, when it comes to pure intellectual brilliance, perceptiveness and a keen musical ear, Shostakovich is second only to Stravinsky among all Russian composers, and orders of magnitude ahead of the others. Whether those attributes add up to "greatness" or whether you look for something more, or something else, is entirely up to you.
His music puts the banality, the oppression and the cruelty he saw in his society into sharp focus. He offers no escape or respite, even in his comedy. Look at the story of Lieutenant Kije and the inept and craven military administrators he ridicules so sharply and effectively. Nobody else could or would do quite the same thing so well.
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Follow Ups
- OK, but, - rbolaw 09:00:13 03/28/17 (12)
- I agree about Lieutenant Kije - except that that's by PROKOFIEV, not Shostakovitch - Chris from Lafayette 14:33:14 03/28/17 (10)
- Yes! I keep confusing Lt. Kije with The Nose. - rbolaw 16:49:44 03/28/17 (9)
- My favorite piece by Shostakovitch is "Song of the Forests"! ;-) - Chris from Lafayette 18:19:35 03/28/17 (8)
- Now I KNOW you're yanking our chains... - MWE 18:41:58 03/28/17 (7)
- Hey, man - you questioning my taste? [nt] ;-) - Chris from Lafayette 19:43:18 03/28/17 (6)
- Yuk, yuk. - rbolaw 07:32:03 03/29/17 (0)
- Hee hee. nt. - MWE 19:50:22 03/28/17 (4)
- But wait! If Song of the Forests is as bad as "everyone" says it is. . . - Chris from Lafayette 19:55:08 03/29/17 (3)
- Ugh. Hideous cover. - rbolaw 09:20:21 03/30/17 (2)
- Hey, man - that's a proletariat cover with not a trace of formalism! - Chris from Lafayette 13:36:20 03/30/17 (1)
- You are CRACKING me UP!! - MWE 14:19:40 03/30/17 (0)
- Most eloquently put, RBO. nt. - MWE 12:40:37 03/28/17 (0)