Shostakovich String Quartet No. 8 in C Minor (III)

[setnoset]

piece of madness

[HorusHeresy50]

This is the best version !

[hwuman]

2:05

[shiningbloom9]

My orchestra conductor says that this is the demented circus movement

[amusisized]

describing all the things that were going on at that time so well. and how hard must it have been for shostakovich to stand the constant danger of stalin

[rarararuth]

It's suppose to be Shostakovich take on Stalin and the devil waltzing together, great piece though!

[violinlb10]

When I listen to this song I don't think of dancing...I think of a carousel going around in circles...with the bodies of strangled clowns hanging from it.

[vapeuri]

...mysterious.I love Shostas music - never heard better sounds

[pingstir]

1:54 has the same melody from the Shostakovich cello concerto No.1

I think that's pretty amazing.

[arenadri7]

2.November 1960 DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH'S QUARTET NO.8 premieres in Leningrad.

[monobrow638]

Being forced to dance.... horrible, but entertaining.

[hejtujemtjub]

damn cool

[BoredChemist]

Shostakovich has such great taste in glasses... and music!

[30secondstomarstv1]

Its a little demons

[ozymandiasgirl3]

i love how he puts his signature in almost all his peices

[laurenolivia1964]

what quartet is playing this?

[jedenbeen]

@laurenolivia1964 Kronos.

[pentafusion]

Only Shostakovich can be playful and cynical at the same time. This is like a musical interpretation of black humor...

[samuelsixvids]

is like being in the head of a murder, is amazing.

[temperheaded1]

I Love The intervals Through This Whole Piece Really At 0:53

[cjh37878]

1:52 Cello concerto theme?

[edmundwould]

Such a cool piece. If anyone's into there breakcore then check out abelcain, he samples a segment of this, /watch?v=nlaJs3yjDqs

[Spwee1494Halo]

Fans of this would most likely enjoy The Dillinger Escape Plan. Similar feeling, polar opposite genre.

[Amarynthine]

sheet music anyone?????

[albertescamilla]

@Amarynthine okay

[connorross123]

Greatest waltz EVER

[TFishwrestler]

@connorross123 I was just thinking the same thing.

[13horseaholic]

@goozooman :

as a violist, I prefer the legato- it captures more of the nasty, more grating sound that this music calls for. And it's just more fun :)

[movoning]

music was simply a stage of his mind

[373raindance]

we all hate those comments on the dislikes of a vid but... theres one dude that clicked the dislike button. AHAHAHA. hows it feel to be alone dude

[Flalaski]

i love this movement best. love the ghostly dance.

[quarknugget]

Whoa, wtf, cello concerto? 1:55

[Guglio88]

@quarknugget Yes :D

[polarus99]

dance of the psycopathic clowns

[DafniElissa]

@polarus99 quite realistic!

[LetTheMusicFlow1]

I thought I was hearing the first cello concerto for a second there. Sneaky bastard. :D

[monobrow638]

Thanks Shostakovich, now i'm f****** suicidal...however, I still can't even begin to imagine the misery that was used to write this epic piece.

[IHATEPEOPLE46]

@monobrow638 Definitly, i frist heard it preformed by the aviv quartet and was like WOAH!

[gatoman46]

dare to dance with this?

[DiegoMa13]

Before the end it kinda sounds like the cello concerto xD

[mr00aznkid]

@DiegoMa13 Yeah, he actually put pieces of the cello concerto into it.

[whythewar1]

We may have done a lot of horrible things in the cold war , but russia was a lot worse.

[Katamanteuomos]

To wykonanie wydaje mi się tak doskonałe, że trudno wiązać je z podmiotowym wykonawcą. Szostakowicz stworzył muzykę, która jest tylko dla wykonań doskonałych po prostu- zupełnie tak jak Chopin (krytycy pisali, że po śmierci Fryderyka nie będzie już nikogo kto potrafi to grać). Wykonanie tej muzyki przez Szostakowicza, Scherbakova, kwartet Kronos przebija się przez hałas dnia codziennego i nic nie zburzy informacji z innego wymiaru.

[TheJamesalden]

Thanks for posting this.

[hh2fan]

AMAZING!!! I LOVE IT!!! Most genius piece ever composed :)

[hh2fan]

AMAZING!

[lishaisafattchubbo]

This is good. thnx silentsteps.

[daisyshangrow]

Breathtaking. I totally started laughing at 1:56 and 3:46 when he quotes his cello concerto he wrote the year before. Shostakovich is bad to the bone. I mean that in an incredibly positive way(:

[RealoveGSR]

I meant to say:

His music tells a story clearer and more profound than any other I've ever heard. Including music with lyrics.

[RealoveGSR]

His music tells a story more than any other I've ever heard. Including ones with lyrics.

[Eilos]

God I love this movement. Started rehearsing it yesterday and I seriously couldn't keep myself from grinning (and laughing a little bit) while I was playing. Amazing.

[dga471]

Can something be so ugly yet so beautiful??? incredible

[nixrox13]

@dga471

I think ugly and beautiful are antonyms so a better word would be harsh or dissonant, but agreed: absolutely amazing

[iitouchmyselfatnight]

@nixrox13 Ugly is often just the word often used to describe uncommon or disconcerting beauty, it's not necessarily antithetical to beauty at all times.

[dga471]

@iitouchmyselfatnight Exactly. Disconcerting beauty is somewhat deeper and more sophisticated, because it's appreciated not as often as conventional beauty. The paradox makes the effect of the music stronger on ourselves. Not to say that conventional beauty is always inferior, though.

[pila406]

@dga471 Why ugly? I don't think it is 'ugly, yet beautiful'. It is was composed to descirbe something. Neither beautiful nor ugly. Just something from the soul.

[dga471]

@pila406 Just to say it's "something from the soul" doesn't do the work justice. A lot of people can claim to write music or create other works of art "directly from the soul", but few have the originality, craftsmanship and wit that Shostakovich possesses. Those qualities, together with writing it "from the soul", make musical genius.

I certainly think the piece is beautiful. The fact that it's beautiful in an unconventional manner shows the profound depth of musical appreciation needed.

[Goode1111111111]

This recording is on the album "Black Angels" by the kronos quartet

[indikinsable]

@helansgothicangel

its because thats dmitri shostakovich's signature. it somehow is suppose to spell his name. its its most of his music somewhere in the piece. kind of like his trademark.

[helenagothicangel13]

Yup, the DSCH-motif, like in the 10th symphony, and his op. 126 cello concerto, and the A minor violin concerto... But is there a direct influence from Saint-Saens?

[talentoneto1]

Hay que estudiarlo bastante teniendo presente que practicamente todos los temas de sus sinfonicas estan aqui y que por estos momentos El compositor estaba muy deprimido. Este cuarteto se hizo para comunicar inconformidad y molestia ademas de protesta.

[helenagothicangel13]

Reminds me so much of Saint Saens, Danse Macabre, is that normal?

[imabeliever8]

around the 2:00 mark, the melody from his cello concerto in Eb is heard (1st mvt), could someone care to explain why this is occuring?

[snofthndr]

I noticed it at 1:55... He was known for interupting the common idea with something completely different even from something that was not even his...

[kimisizer]

@snofthndr What do you mean "not even his"? The melody you're referring to is from his cello concerto.

[snofthndr]

In other peices he would quote someone else in a more or less random break from what he was doing in the overall peice

[c15art]

He´s just making a citation of his own music or maybe he use the motive of his cello concerto for this .Anyway that´s usual in many compositions not only of Shostakovich but in other composers as well.

[moncononight]

anyone know the name of the cd?

[sitnam44]

This guy makes me want to eat chocolate pie!!!! Omnomnomnomnomnomnom

[whythewar1]

@sitnam44 O_o

[olya34]

the cellos barely get any notes, except the solo

but I don't think I could of played it otherwise =P

Love this piece!

[yellotheemcee]

hahah at like 2 minutes theres the theme from the cello concerto haha

[bratschy]

how can one find all but one movement of a recording? that is saying nothing against Kronos, i have almost their complete discography standing here, but i like Emerson also very much and would have liked to directly compare the two... and this is one of the best movements ever written...sad

[SonofDostojevskij]

A worc full of aggretion and darc feelings, but still so beautefull.

[Smaejdah]

Almost as your english.. -_-

[miperroeshomosexual]

JAJAJAJAJAJAJA!

[horiac]

Ai fink da saim.

[amborg612]

Whoever said Kronos > Emerson regarding performances of Shostakovitch was absolutely correct. I say this after having only grudgingly listened to both (I usually find Kronos a little too "out there" for my tastes), but in this case there is no contest.

[Aanalleinoneman]

This is a wonderful movement.

I love Shostakovitch's dark, sad, and aggressive styling.

Just wondering. About the Kronos Quartet.

What do you mean by "out there"?

I've heard them with Clint Mansell and the Requiem for a Dream sound track, then again who hasn't and thought that was amazing.

[orchdork607]

Ok, for all the people who were asking, I asked the uploader and he/she said that this IS the Kronos Quartet's performance, and they uploaded this one because they couldn't find the Emerson recording of this movement. So there you go. =)

Be happy! Shostakovich is good for you. =D

[samarabob]

gotta agree with chameleodon here. kronos>emerson when it comes to shostakovitch

[chameleodon]

do you have the rest of this recoridng this is a lot better than emerson

[Fracture55]

are u insane? The Emerson recording is so much better. It loses its impact when its played slow. The Emerson recording is near perfect

[AndreiViolinist]

This is Emerson's recording...chek out every part, it's a mistake by the uploader.....

[Anarchyz0r]

lol to give variety

[joshviolinviola]

yes, why is this movement of a different string quartet playing than the others?

[EDGJZConglomerate]

DSCH is amazing! Symphony No. 5 Allegretto is my personal favorite. The Jazz Suite No. 2 is very good also a well as his first piano concerto for those of you interested.

[electricviolinist92]

this movement is so subtle and creeping, I love the silent winding violins at 2:05 and the heavy stuff at :54

[Away236]

very intense, yet fun to play

[natsco88]

Who's recording is it??

[silentsteps]

Finally figured it out! It's the Kronos Quartet.

[nikitannenkov]

remember guys: its all about war.

[nikitannenkov]

I LOVE THIS! IT GIVES ME GOOSE SKIN...lol

[Guppywarlord]

This is such a fun piece to play...really gets the blood flowing. :P

[chulaire]

I agree! =D

[vlnlover]

Agreed!

[iwasnothingbesideyou]

By the way, you would be correct with the quartet to be played straight through. If you see the music, attaca should ring a bell.

[SpeedyDamian]

This movement wakes my spiders up

[MipKouta]

Such an...emotionally painful movement...

[ewrobbins]

My favorite Movement!

[swengw]

Haha, cello concerto @ 1:55.

[carrotcake720]

lol

[HerbieTheRaceCar]

i was hearing this in school, and now it's stuck in my head.

[DevilViolinist]

This sounds like the Kronos Quartet. Just a suggestion :)

[macias13ca]

I agree, this is definitely not the Emerson SQ.

[joshtheviolistfromNV]

This movement is from a different CD, Listen to the first 2 movements and the playing doesn't match. I have the Emerson Playing this and this is not them

[silentsteps]

Good point, I completely forgot about the different quartet when I uploaded this. I'll change it as soon as I remember who performed this one... thanks for the heads up.

[joshtheviolistfromNV]

no problem, also, i might suggest investing in a different recording of the Smetana number 1 in E minor, I would suggest either the Emerson String Quartet recording or the Amadeus Quartet recording. The Violist in the Smetana Quartet that you posted isn't all that great. but its just a suggestion. Thanks for replying.

[googleman65]

I love how he re-uses the melody from the e-flat cello concerto! It's really cool

[themimingbox224]

I love this movement! The dynamics are simply amazing. Can't wait until I get to play this with my quartet (next week)! :D

[JRabyt]

The Viola part is wonderful...

[googleman65]

He re-uses the melody from the e-flat cello concerto, I think that's cool

[ingvdrue]

I really like the viola in this movement. it's so funny to play! :-D

[silentsteps]

Actually, I don't think this is even the Emerson version...

[parallax7d]

Yeah I have a version of theirs, and it's not this. Perhaps this is simply another version?

[joshtheviolistfromNV]

nope, they haven't recorded another version of this piece

[PhiliptheFace]

I prefer the recording they made on their Grammy Winning Shostakovich String Quartet album.

[isaacspookytac]

A good recording, but I prefer a more grotesque interpretation...

[olga2809]

The recording the Jeruzalem String Quartet made is really great. They are very talented

[136918]

i love the dynamics in this movement. it really brings it all together. i especially love the cello solo. its beautiful :)