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

[Nobodyknowsme021]

I fell like going insane and killing someone.

[Shostakovichify]

I can play this song and I'm only 12. Although it took me forever to get fast enough.

[Shostakovichify]

@Shostakovichify Not that I'm trying to be a show off. All I'm saying is that if you try hard enough you can do it. Wow that sounded sossssooooo cheesy.

[xDSlimz]

@Shostakovichify You're twelve. Quit playing Shostakovich. Not trying to sound like a dick, but shostakovich is deeper than just being able to play the notes. Its emotional turmoil

[Xjmwy]

I find this piece totally relaxing. Thats life! ;)

[conundrumist]

When i heard it druing the concert i really started to cry

[Shostakovichify]

@conundrumist I know I saw this in concert today. It was phenomenal the only bad thing was the kids behind me were playing with their programs. And we were at the Ordway so it was really loud and annoying.

[canuckcity]

playing this with my orchestra for a competition, such a demanding piece it's incredible

[hi5m8]

wow, i seriously would love to play this someday.

[mrmundungu]

My brain is pounding against the inside of my skull, demanding that this kick less ass so that I can get back to work.

[swantonist]

the drop Oo fuk

[iFhernd]

Excellent. That sound arrives to me to some strange place.

[disrxt]

I had a friend tell me "I love classical music, it's so relaxing." So I played this for him. ;-)

[Soccer1296]

my orchestra is playing this whole quartet piece for my upcoming concert. I'm loving it!!

[xRaito09x]

gosh!! the viola part is awesome!

[DJMKitsune]

This is was the piece which learned me to appreciate Shostakovich' music. At first, I only liked this and some fast parts in the rest of the quartet, but as time went over it I actually liked the pieces like the last movement of this quartet more and more.

[fearsomesnow]

At 0:55, the quartet has the ordacity to do a freaking RITARDANDO at the section. God I want to play this ensemble at contest next year as a high school junior (I play bass :3)

[chandlerplusbass]

@fearsomesnow I play bass guitar and totally want to play that bit too!

[Kwert]

@fearsomesnow What's wrong with pulling back a little to heighten the drama of that section and signal a definite arrival point? The Emerson Quartet is one of the greatest living quartets in the world...

[fearsomesnow]

@Kwert I wasn't insulting it, I thought it sounded freaking awesome.

[HOLLYLOVESALISA]

is there a part one?!.

[SingerSeeksBand]

THIS IS THE ESSENCE OF PANIC!

[guitardude901]

0:56 is pure awesomness

[kyoutojun]

bravo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[feedthefurnace6]

BOW DOWN TO THE THRAAASHERRRR

[TheWitcherFanboy]

The absolute dark depths of insanity, portrayed in classical music. Brilliant.

[fisher00769]

I've shown this to metalhead friends. They loved it.

[Mizzles240]

Stalin has 17 youtube accounts

[MrRezeew]

good

[Oser93]

Homicidal Clowns...

[D0ctorGonz0]

Amazing, needs to be louder.

[takemealivethistime]

2:25 is the bestest. My school's best quartet played this one and I loooove it.

[karapturam]

requires real professional skill to perform, a polyphony, always liked violins, thanks!!

[HB3l1]

Winter beast is coming to eat your brain..

[kendallburks]

Emerson Quartet seriously kicks the shit out of this piece, better than any other performance I've heard, though I guess I shouldn't expect anything else from them.

[jacobr512]

Daniel Radcliffe lookes like Shostakovich

[Mnemosyne85]

better than orgasm...

[pavol1980]

virtuoso

[Drakodan]

Could've sworn I was listening to Gorguts.

[gckk10]

Can't. Stop. Hitting. Replay....

[Coversbycass]

WHAT THE HELL?

[molecularexpression]

If anyone cares: Russian Initials consist of the first letter of the first name and the first "sound" of the last name. For him, it's: D SCH. If those letters are converted to the "musical alphabet" they correspond to D, E(flat), C, B. The notes of the continuously re-occuring theme in this piece and his others. He signs his pieces.

[clix089]

@molecularexpression lol bach did that as well.

[DJMKitsune]

@molecularexpression

when I didn't now about the DSCH motif, I never noticed it to occur in so many pieces of Shostakovich. He has been quite lucky with his name, I think.

I sometimes try to make a musical cryptogram like he did, but I never seem to succeed like he did.

[fearsomesnow]

My high school symphony orchestra played this at the first concert of this year.

O.O

[bananasupreme]

I gotta have more Shostakovich

[FallinPiano]

Psycho ?

[MERTx123]

This movement is such a headbanger, holy crap

[88than88]

genius!!!



[DeaconFrFinbarr]

Very moving...expresses more than words...and taps exactly into those emotions that are so turbulent.

[DiegoConradi]

16 pessoas são surdas...

[arielunbound]

Emerson Quartet have delivered an exeptional interpretation here.

[nightscape94]

Anyone else headbanging?

[jabberwock11]

@nightscape94 Yeah it's like heavy wood!

[BaalieOlin]

@nightscape94 me!



[MERTx123]

@nightscape94 This movement is a serious headbanger lol

[sh7de]

@nightscape94 that and AIR VIOLIN

[amadalimma]

I was suicidal when I liked the "he was suicidal comment", no shame

[DaaKerr]

i feel like there is a guy with a knife creeping up behind me every time i listen to this D: ........... <3!!!

[CatherineER714]

I absolutely love this price we're playing this entire concerto in my orchestra... So much fun.

[xDSlimz]

@CatherineER714 concerto? This is a quartet

[CatherineER714]

@xDSlimz Actually it is designed and played by a quartet... it is five movements long therefore, it is a concerto...

[xDSlimz]

@CatherineER714 A concerto (from the Italian: concerto, plural concerti or, often, the anglicised form concertos) is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which (usually) one solo instrument (for instance, a piano, violin, cello or flute) is accompanied by an orchestra.

[Pientek100]

0:55 GOD, i'm listening this moment about 10th time

so dramatic and full of anger

[TheMissgia]

orgasmic...thank you so much! Ioanna Greece

[BlikeNave]

I wish my C minor sounded like this.

[JackInBlackDawg]

My high school's chamber orchestra is playing this, and only after a weekend of 15 hours' rehearsal is it starting to "come along."

[MrAjleask]

@JackInBlackDawg cool story bro

[thefirerockstar]

right on

[jormaleppanen123]

he was rejoicing

[3guys1console]

@Ohglaba He was suicidal throughout most of his composing career. If he wasn't we wouldn't have his amazing music like this

[linkwakeroftime]

@3guys1console Hey Tylerrrr

[ozymandiasgirl3]

i love this piece wee playing it in orchestra its so emotional. in this the whole note =120

[YiXiang101]

@ozymandiasgirl3 I think Emerson plays it faster, actually.

[drgabrielsoileau]

I hear all the pan and fear in Shastikovich's life

[DieDieHero]

Holy fack.

-Zatch.

[guyroeeandbuzi]

maybe the darkest piece i've heard..the fast playing strings sound a lot like the trains (on which the people were taken to camps during the holocast)

[catoracto]

PSCYHO



[mrsbookthief]

god this is so bad ass!

[wizenhiemr]

Faxed Head- Chiropractic. I thought it was an original guitar solo! Go figure, everything Trey does is kind of a blatant rip-off

[nobodady1]

King Crimson?

[makerofjam]

Stalin is coming to eat your brain

[DafniElissa]

@makerofjam ahahahahah

[mrdehj]

Genius. This paints a grim, holocaust like painting in my head. So talented, with a dreadful feel all at once. Bravo.

[AICbrazilianfan]

Amazing!!

[AEFic]

13 people don't like this. And that's fine. I mean, we all have opinions. It'd be boring if we all liked the same thing.

[cmandmc1991]

this songs gives me a great rush haha...its makes me full of energy and angry...this is like metal classical music.

[mangacharlus]

le supposé "hard rock" est franchement ridicule en comparaison... Ici l'esprit ne souffle pas, il se fait ouragan ! !

[mrvishal1000]

stalin made him a badass!!! go shostakovich u rule!!!

[Edgar94Che]

So much power for such an instrument.

[26WillMohr]

It's too bad he can't write us some more amazing works of art :(

[Sophiliet]

I wish I could gather a quartet of talented musicians to play this. oh man I would pee my pants if I could get a chance like that. :P bleh.

[beezlebub91]

amazing



[socaltrumpet83]

13 people grew up in nice, tidy, and overpriviliged homes and do not understand what mental and emotional tension, turmoil, fear, sadness, lonliness, conflict, loss, and pain feels like. This quartet has a deeply sown place in my heart, and those who think we are just sad worthless sacks who have no future lives can go fuck themselves.

[Catlin11]

@socaltrumpet83 Thats not something to brag about you retard. also LOLbad childhood

[Crystalpeak]

@socaltrumpet83

these people live in a better world than you do ;)

[alexpjp]

@socaltrumpet83 as radical as this statement is... I totally agree. This music is the essence of pain; and perhaps the actual process of writing it is what saved him, perhaps the only thing.

[Huddiethegreat]

@socaltrumpet83 This comment needs to be directed at the morons who can't grasp Beethoven's Grosse Fuge, or Schoenbergs quartets or the music of Penderecki. Well said.

[vanboaconstrictor]

@socaltrumpet83 thats not right. i live in an overpriviliged house, but i can fell all those things you mentioned. Everyone can feel what shostakovich felt when he wrote this, everyone's life has its bad, suicidal sides.

[FiatObscuritas]

@socaltrumpet83 I agree partially, this is not my favorite string quartet, but what you wrote has truth.

[Eorhen]

@socaltrumpet83 They are just deaf and they dont understand, what "beauty" is.

[HartAttackRecords]

Where is the first movement?

[zeezeeandkiki]

This sounds like its fun to play!! I wish I was better at playing my viola!!

[Zephanus]

@zeezeeandkiki Don't be too sorry. This piece has a pretty lame viola part, at least to play.

[zeezeeandkiki]

@Zephanus Lame viola part? Well thats rude to say. I hear no 'lame' parts in this song. What so ever. So please dont call one of the parts lame because without each individual part the song wouldnt sound as amazing as this. And if ur implying that the viola is lame or whatever let me say this, without a viola the orchestra wouldn't sound the same. All the instruments in the stringed category are and sound beautiful and each take skill to play there is no better part nor instrument.

[Zephanus]

@zeezeeandkiki No, I'm just saying is was boring for many of the violists to play. It wasn't easy, and it sounded good, but it wasnt fun to play.

[Praernym]

@Zephanus I played this professionally a few weeks back. personally I LOVED IT. (second violin here)

[violahero1248]

I will be playing this at the start of the school year!!!!!!!!

[dragonscarz13]

@violahero1248 Aww, I want to do that...

[TonicMike]

Harry Potter stole Dmitri's look. Shostakovich for life!!

[Beerlejuice]

@TonicMike I think he looks a little more Peter Lorreish to me.

[NikkDriver]

LOL so agree Cesaemalak

[jtefuckup]

his glasses are way awesome xD

[NadinaNova]

HELL YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!

[UltraMushroom]

u guys shud take a look at saratoga high school orchestra performing this piece. stunning.

just type in saratoga high schostakovich and see

[bootboydenmark88]

The first heavy metal EVER written? I agree this Shostakovich Quartet would qualify for that title certainly, if it wasn't for Mussorgsky's 'Baba Yaga' from his 'Pictures at an Exhibition' written in 1874. When it was orchestrated by Ravel in 1922, 'Baba Yaga' for me is thrash metal scored for a symphony orchestra ...and in the same key as the Shostakovich - C Minor.

[dragonscarz13]

@bootboydenmark88 Personally, I think this was closer to metal.

[bootboydenmark88]

The first heavy metal EVER written? I agree this Shostakovich Quartet would qualify for that title certainly, if it wasn't for Mussorgsky's 'Baba Yaga' from his 'Pictures at an Exhibition' written in 1874. When it was orchestrated by Ravel in 1922, 'Baba Yaga' for me is thrash metal scored for a symphony orchestra ...

[13horseaholic]

@kirill429

Tankety tank, tankety tank.....

[darkshadows9658]

suchhhh an awesome song :) addicting..

[kirill429]

0:56 , the image given to our group playing this quartet was this: the cellos+violas, you are the tank. you roll your bow across the string as to picture the grinding of the gears on a tank. while the v1s and v2s: you are the melody, an old, jewish melody and you must play like its your last hope for survival. then the image goes on to say this to the viola+cellos: the tank is a german panzer and it must crush the jewish people (the violins) with all your might. what a wonderful image..........

[Dnomasorneiluj]

Plz...

Heavy, death or i don't know what metal boys have nothing to do with shostakovich

don't compare

[ssshyguy]

This is AMAZING!

[Ohglaba]

He was suicidal when he wrote this.

[gabrielmachi]

@Ohglaba This is sorta in his remembrance. His name is actually embedded in this piece. the constant reappearing D Eflat C B in german noting is actually D S C H. which is his initials. D... Sch....

[cansaran11]

@Ohglaba Indeed but he played the essence of life - passion

[FiatObscuritas]

If you want to understand this 2nd movement, first of all try to appreciate the rest of the movements. If you listen metal, you are free to listen what you want, but if you really appreciate classic music, you don't need to appreciate the rest of movements, ’cause you already have the background to understand the composer and the whole musical piece

[McPstOfficial]

isnt this slightly detuned?

[leon14320]

@McPstOfficial

Kinda sounds like it, but the dischord works well to convey what he's expressing with the piece.

[GodSpeed221]

Shostakovich is mad whacked.

[Oistrakhfollower]

Shostakovich knew how to use 4 instruments to depict the death

[budgienation]

Do any of you 'death metal' fools know what the this piece is about? It was meant as a memorial to the fallen during WWII? Specifically the firebombing of DRESDEN! What we as the 'allies' did, during the European Campaign was, to figure out if Napalm could work, was we firebombed Dresden, a city in Germany that was considerd an 'open city', that is, a city that had no militarily stategic value, and had not been bombed, simply to show if Napalm, could be used to good stategic effect. Fools!

[EvisceratorBand]

@budgienation Are you just trying really hard to convince people that classical has nothing to do with metal?

[budgienation]

@EvisceratorBand I really don't see the connection.  Classical can get loud, yes, but it's power under control, power for a purpose, not loud for loud's sake. Oh, I don't know how to say it. To see a connection between classical and heavy metal is like saying a sparrow and a falcon are alike because they both have wings, or a model T and a Shelby GT Mustang are alike because they both have internal combustion engines.

[EvisceratorBand]

@budgienation Alright, this will either make you deny it even more, contradict yourself, or in the case of a very unlikely outcome; make you stop wearing your rectum like a necklace. After listening to this piece thoroughly, search "Lash By Lash" by the DEATH METAL band Spawn of Possession, play the video and try your hardest to listen closely to the notes from the guitar playing. I'm even willing to bet that you're not going to do it, but to anyone else that's reading this, feel free.

[Gastahn]

@EvisceratorBand I agree that technical death metal (and SoP in particular) sounds a lot like this piece. For any metalhead, it is very obvious that this has influenced techdeath. But most people who do not listen to metal seem to have the stereotype of metal, especially death metal, as just "loudness for its own sake." Even if (s)he did listen to that song, (s)he probably would not change his/her opinion because the guttural vocals are distracting to anyone who has not listened to much metal.

[EvisceratorBand]

@Gastahn I'm thinking (s)he might even be distracted by the extreme tone of the instruments, let alone the vocals. But yeah, you're right, (s)he's probably too narrow minded to pull off the task of listening to "Lash By Lash" properly being that (s)he isn't even judging this piece by the feeling it delivers, rather than what it's supposedly based on.

[EvisceratorBand]

@EvisceratorBand The atmosphere in this piece is about as horrific as war can be, yet still has more mental versatility and can be associated with other perilous mental imagery. Furthermore, there are a ton of metal songs based on war. "Pillage and Burn" by Malevolent Creation, anyone? The same feeling is delivered by the guitar playing in that song as well. And why is it that whenever vocals are present, the vocals automatically mean everything?

[VitalSigns1]

Just add drums and this would be some awesome technical death metal

[NORMALisSooOVERRATED]

the video is in my favorites...............just an addition to my last coment

[EvisceratorBand]

I'm going to have to agree with how the rating system doesn't work. The amount of people liking or disliking a song isn't going to change my opinion about said song.

[leonidas6326]

the music of erich zann

[KeViNO1234567890]

WTF IS THIS SHIT

[MusicfromtheDave]

You can't deny that you hear this kind of stuff in metal rhythm guitar a lot.

[JxL483]

Wow...you people seriously seem to all have anger issues :L

[zammer997]

@JxL483 this isnt really an "angry" song

[JxL483]

@zammer997 not the composer. the people commenting. Most of the comments ont he video seem to be people getting angry at each other. I wasn't implying the song was angry, just the youtube users.

[zammer997]

@zammer997 its the internet... everyones always angry ... all the time... for no reason whatsoever

[zammer997]

playing the bass in a song that was originally a string quartet is not as simple a task as it seems....

and having the piece be from shostakovich doesnt exactly help either ):

but by God i love playing this piece

[LadyInDaHouse88]

lol that literally rocks! 

[Linsocohback]

Mavorickify ahha i noe right i also play this with my school ochestra is freaking hard

[Mbombed]

Epic

[GreatFugue]

Clashing strings and a perfectly exploited the "DSCH" motiv, plus extremely well played!!!

[TheTemporaryTemp]

He wrote this entire quartet in 3 days. Amazing

[enma15ai]

THIS IS NOT SHOSTAKOVICH!

all soviet music implies lost of dramatical feelings and pressure, we all know how was suffering Shostakovich because of his music, he was expelled for his only one, GENIUS opera "Katerina Izmailova" ! SO all his music means a high pressure, pain, tears and suffering! BUT in this interpretation i can hear only a quiet whining, not a big drama. Listen how Mischa Mayski plays the second movement from his Cello Sonata, if you want to understand what I mean

[antinoj2005]

@enma15ai You should really learn more about Shostakovich an his music. High preassure, pain, tears and suffering you mentioned were described in his music during Stalin regime, especially in his 4th and 8th symphony. On the other hand, lots of sarcasm and irony were expressed in his music (look at 7th and 9th symphony). Finally, this quartet was writen in 1960, several years after Stalins death.

[dicthash]

@enma15ai

"we all know" -- you know bullshit

[cesarmalak]

Amazed.

Someone clone Shostakovich back to life and make a death metal band with him.

[k234ify]

@cesarmalak melodic death metal to say correctly

[cesarmalak]

@k234ify Gothenburg metal doesn't have 10% of the grim dissonances that this work has.

[k234ify]

@cesarmalak,nowadays i am tired listening to metal..so i am mainly concentrating on dissonant and atonal classical pieces like this