Shostakovich Symphony No. 7 "Leningrad" 1st Movement part 1

[albertlopez1234]

Fuck you, we're still here

[karapturam]

the man wrote this symphony in besieged Leningrad in hunger, cold, seeing people dying around him, under the Nazi bombs, when hope was ever getting smaller. But the music is so powerful and full of strength and spirit, amazing! Hitler was promising that once he would take Leningrad he would make sure that Shostakovich would be hung first...

Deepest respect to the greatest composer of modern times!

[patrahilevlampiev]

This is the version of Rudolf Barshai conducting the WDR Sinfonieorchester Cologne, september 1992, isn't it?

[555paint]

so what version is this?

[Augustkube]

There is an accurate pairing of sound and visual imagery as well as emotional climate. The music seems photographic to me. The sweet qualities of life are sharing the stage with hard and unkind things, making the lightness an achievement in bold relief.

[inmuc]

Following up on what I said before, it actually occurs to me that maybe Shostakovich was being a bit 'naughty' with the similarity between the German invaders here and the police in Lady Macbeth. Yet he was vilified by Stalin for one and deified by him for the other!

[inmuc]

To the person who heard Ravel around the six minute mark, I think the motif is actually pretty different. I hear a clear reference to Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk there (also at 1.10), but it's a tough question for an entrance exam if you have no prior background in this material and focus on the drums! If the upside is that it brought you to Shostakovich then take pleasure in that - the guy was a genius, and had an unusual ability to inject real humour and irony into his music.

[musicismyanodyne]

@inmuc He said himself that he might be accused of sounding like Revel there, but "so be it--that is how I hear war". I am currently reading about the siege and have just read the story of his writing this, and leaving friends stunned when he previewed it in private. This would be why. Stunning soundtrack to a terrible experience.

[Varhostak]

Verze, která se asi nejvíce blíží nahrávce z r. 1974 od Supraphonu (Česká filharmonie/Václav Neumann)

[dahking14]

i disagree with your notation of "i have no plans of making a profit off this song." ... A song is something you sing, not play, you play a piece, please correct this in the future. But otherwise thank you for posting such a wonderful piece on youtube, we are entirely thankful for this!

[CalculusWhiz]

Hey, I know that tune from "The Day of Sagittarius 3" game!

[Maggienette]

bloody hell I've just realised I wrote on my entering exams half a year ago that the 5:35 part of this symphony is Ravel's Bolero, what a mistake!!!!

that's why I didn't get to the school I've always wanted to attend....

The drumms are so similar and it's so easy to confuse :///

pay attention everyone when having entering exams, keep calm this is THE TRICKY PART from Shostakovich Leningrad's symphony.

well I've warned you at least. feeling a bit better now

[gogolmol]

Mravinsky?

[gogolmol]

why noone writes who is the director?

it's not Shostakovich himself, nor his son Maxim Dmitrievich

Neither Svetlanov. Not Rozhdestvensky. Not Mravinsky.

Who?

The orchestra is surely not soviet.

[SachaMcPhee]

The absolute brilliance in this symphony reflects how it was written. How Shostakovich moved from watch duties, back to his studio, writing by candlelight at times, only to rush to the nearest bomb shelter every few hours. When he finally finished the finale, it was played at full volume at the enemy troops, after he gathered what orchestra members he could to record it. Three of which died during rehearsal periods. Absolutely brilliant!

[chobits389]

Thumbs up if you came here because of Haruhi Suzumiya

[gui1521]

@chobits389 So I'm not the only one :D

[bonsema1]

if this the symphony that lifted the petersburgers from the leningard siege it should certainly be able to lift my spirits....

[lbreakzl]

Long live the memory of this great man. He made this world better with his genius and hard work.

[aga4edison]

Aga like this piece a lot ;p

[PianoTuningLover]

I am sorry for my comment with the thesis on bravery. I think, to Shostakovich Love was more valuable and it made the person a victor. And not A person, but the whole mankind.

[windstorm1000]

A brave courageous artist/human being who was forced to work under the most awful day to day circumstances that most of us cannot even fathom. Shost. would have made a better American than most American's today--he understood the price of freedom. Stuck it out in the USSR--wish he had defected here--I think he would have lived longer. Tension of living and smoking finaly killed him. I salute this brave man and his genius creative drive.

[GroucherMarx]

We can only try and put ourselves into the minds of those litening to this and the sounds of approaching Fascist Jackboots. It is then that this music transcends to the heroic and inspirational

[melkor65]

4 fools loves Justin Beiber

[mrcmrc1000]

@melkor65 yeah, for sure. Béla Bartók loved Justin Bieber, too :) If somebody disliked this vid, that does not mean they like crap music. Maybe they like something else better. Or just felt the interpretation strange.

[OrodesIII]

This is a masterpiece!

[PianoTuningLover]

Dear friends! Today the world comes to the point of struggle. We must realize, that only brave will survive. And we have to be brave - that's the only thing that is really required. This Symphony is created for us to let us save others for the sake of Good that is in doing so itself. Save others and be brave, dear brothers and sisters!

[windstorm1000]

@PianoTuningLover Yes, let us be brave--and let us be loving as well. Thank you!!

[Rikatross]

Who is the conductor and which symphony is it?

[rogermartin78]

I read Tolstoy's "War and Peace" not long ago, and if there had to be a soundtrack to that huge novel, it would be the first movement of this symphony. I wonder did shostakovich have the aforesaid novel in mind when he wrote this? Just a thought...

[classicalnut1]

when i first started listening to and studying this work, i was skeptical. you see, i was used to the 'large-scale symphonic works' because of mahler and bruckner. these people were good symphonists (mahler was better than bruckner), but i was plagued with the idea that long symphonies were relentless and boring lacking substance. they just filled time with more time. but not shostikovich. he makes every second worth while!

[MRSCHUTZE1]

This is a nice symphony,the good thing is that it was composed during the 20 century unlike the other ones from the late 18 and 19 Centuries.

[Smuffzorz]

people say this piece is nice, but id prefer to call it epic!

[classicalnut1]

@Smuffzorz i couldnt agree more! shostakovich is, in my opinion, one of the greatest composers of all time. his orchestration is unparalleled. this symphony is definitely very intimidating though.

[flarbton]

a work of genius, of mind and heart... spirit.

[khatholic]

youtube aficionados. lol.

[sarchinius]

A citation from 1st movement is used in Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra (mvt 5)

[Rinzvoje]

can somebody tell me what is the name of his music that is played on lenin funeral

[paradoxicus]

En su estreno Leningrado sufria el asedio nazi.Fue retransmitida por la B.B.C.,mientras se oian caer las bombas nazis.Musicos y publico se entregaron al hecho musical,como si no pasase nada.

Con sus mejores trajes,caballeros y damas,debido a la delgadez por el hambre,portaban trajes y vestidos que parecian tres tallas mayores.

En su vesania,los nazis calcularon mal y la campaña de Rusia fue el principio de su fin.

Esta anecdota refleja la fuerza moral del pueblo ruso.

[Diosibundo]

@paradoxicus

Has leido alguna vez sobre la vida de Shostakovich? QUe tragedia, pobre hombre!

[bishopmalodie]

@Diosibundo Brilliant! Shostakovich was a master! Brilliant Symphony and loves every second of it!

[ilkinond]

This piece is completely dwarfed by his tenth symphony. I don't know why people bother listening to this particularly mediocre essay in the composer's cycle of symphonies. They must like that silly tune in the first movement, or something like that.

[salvo711]

People like this symphony because it's dedicated to the millions of soldiers that died during the siege of Leningrad.

It also sounds nice.

[dicthash]

@salvo711

during the siege of Leningrad died definitely less than a million of soldiers.

[salvo711]

@dicthash

Actually, more than 2 million soldiers and civilians were killed or missing after the siege.

[IlyaKhleboyko]

@salvo711 Not only soldiers, but millions of civilians.

[windstorm1000]

@IlyaKhleboyko We don't have anything in this country to compare to that horror (this always has been an insulated country helped by geography). Maybe a couple Civil War Battles--and the genocide of Native Americans--the latter however occured over a long time.

[Ceremare]

I am very glad that there are some who want to think rationally. One can not compare US and USSR histories. As you say, there are some similarities. Some points of interest regarding USSR. The USSR was born out of a combination of decrepit, detached and powerful monarchism (undemocratic) and a disparate population affected by famine and disease, uncared for by the empire-like structures of the Tzar's domain. The USSR tried to create a better world. In this, 'Freedom' and 'Communism' are similar.

[aggrorulz]

@salvo711 or it is better to say: people like this symphony becouse it's nice! And it is also dedicated to the milions of soldiers who died during the Leningrad siege.

[salvo711]

@aggrorulz

No, because it's infinitely better to start off serious and end in a silly, almost self-deprecating manner. If you do it the other way around, people won't take you seriously once you say your serious bit.

[Madshoe7]

@salvo711 Actually it's dedicated to all the people of Leningrad, soldiers and common citizens who fought and died so that Nazi couldn't get the city. But also it's dedicated to those who managed to stay alive during the siege and battles for the city. That's why people love this music.

[Lovetoalemon]

For what particular reason you call this symphony mediocre?

P.S. You call yourself a connAIsseur but your comments don't reveal a great culture.

[ilkinond]

The awful march theme in the first movement is embarrassingly bad. It was an appalling piece of misjudgment by Shostakovich.

[Lovetoalemon]

What are the criteria you based your judgement on to say that the march theme is bad? Because it's "basse musique"?

By the way, thr 7th is not my favorite symphony at all, i prefer the 10th, the 15th, the 4th and the 6th.

[cheezbawl2003]

4, 5, 6, 9 :3

But this symphony definitely has its moments. (It's just too long D:)

[cheezbawl2003]

There's a lot of history behind this symphony, and it's 100% enjoyable even without knowledge of the back story.

You say you know "fine music", but then you pretend not to know what ostinato is. This is aptly called the "invasion theme", and that's precisely what it is. If you listen to it, you can hear the tanks rolling into Leningrad.

I'll not argue that it is his best symphony, but I will definitely put forth that Shostakovich didn't publish anything that was anything but what he intended.

[ilkinond]

Indeed? At what point did I give you the impression that I do not know what an ostinato is?

[cheezbawl2003]

Mostly where you say the march theme is "embarrassingly bad", and a "appalling piece of misjudgement". I will happily retract the ostinato comment, but the reason I made it in the first place is that the majority of complaints with this symphony stem from the length of the entire thing (which I will 100% agree is very long, probably too long) and from the "invasion theme" that loops throughout infinity. I obviously misjudged your reasons for your comment, but I still disagree.

[ilkinond]

No, I don't hold the length of the work against it. Surely people who find fault in that are simply admitting to having short attention spans. My criticism is that 'invasion theme' is done really badly, mindlessly and complacently. That entry, for example, in which the oboe repeats every phrase of the march heard in the bassoon is embarrassing. I think that is the right word for it. Bela Bartok found a moment in one of his works to ridicule it too, so my opinion has some distinguished company.

[cheezbawl2003]

On the first point, I will agree that the oboe/bassoon tradeoff phrase is irritating at best, pointless at least, and badly done at worst. However, the ensuing variations are so different from one another and (to my ears) fresh and pleasing, that I would forgive this egregious oversight.

As to Bartok, I have my issues with him. He was without a doubt a good composer, but he was also the type to take himself too seriously, the type that thinks they're "the next mozart", reinventing music etc.

[alejoeisabel]

@cheezbawl2003 Have you had the chance to listen to Dudamel, Teresa Carreno Youth Orchestra, doing Shostakovich Symphony 12, 1917. It is concidered an underrated symphony, but you decide. The SF Symphony will do it next season.

[cheezbawl2003]

@alejoeisabel I've heard the 12th, but not the Dudamel recording. I'll have to check it out :)

[moleculinski]

No entiendo cómo en Leningrad puede haber gente que llame a su ciudad peterburg. O son ignorantes o traidores.

[vessobesso]

Petersburg es el nombre original de la ciudad, los comunistas lo cambian a Leningrad. Despues de la caida del comunismno todas las ciudades han recojido los nombres originales

[moleculinski]

Aún así,es un sarcasmo cruel o,mas bien ignorante o de traidores,llamar con nombre alemán a la ciudad que padeció tan horrible asedio del ejército alemán.Petrograd o Leningrad son denominaciones mucho mas coherentes y acordes con su historia.

[pitbull2005]

forget that airy fairy religious nonsense...this man is God

[ryanman51]

but this man is dead, and god cant die

[Bassorandy]

Great piece, but I enjoy the fifth symphony more. I mean, you could say it's impossible to compare the two, but the finale of the fifth symphony says it all for me.

[GannondorfsKitsune]

I agree

[khabriel]

@bassorandy

i agree

[EatsSammichesGuy]

@Bassorandy Don't worry, EVERYONE has that opinion

[luigiperso]

@Bassorandy , whatever you enjoy has nothing to do with what the composer intended to create

[fendweller]

@Bassorandy The finale is one of the best things about the 7th. Moves me to tears every time. I can't even remember how the 5th's finale goes. So, interesting that you should go for that aspect to explain your preference. I find the third movement of the 5th its strongest - gorgeous. But the 8th is my favourite overall.

[Joohhvis]

Shostakovich is a master of modern history. Just listen to Sym 7 or Sym 8 and look at pics from Nazi invasion of Russia then.

[Hansolosyndrom]

When you listen to Sym 7's first movement, the images appear automatically in my head. Such violence and beauty in that music.

[ame1234567890]

If you want to listen to a Great perfoming, and I mean really Great, of the Leningrado look for the recording made by Bernstein with the Chicago Symphony edited by Deutsche Grammophone.

It's a double CD with also the 1st symphony.

That recording it's simply amazing....

[number1muso]

i luv this piece is so great!! too bad youtube is so gay now that i can only find two of the movements for the whole symphony!! someone please upload the rest

[rjr1967]

gay?

Anyway, you could always go and buy a copy .

[simplyeleskywalker]

In your opininon, speaking about music, germans=humans and russians=animals? so you MUST think italians= angels XD

[mozartisgodly]

How does quality of writing have anything to do with nationality?

[sshuck]

This piece would make my brain shut off after the first couple minutes - too happy and pollyannaish, like Der Meistersinger. Now I love it.

As someone once said, "Don't like it? Listen to it again. Still don't like it? Listen again. Amazing things start to happen."

[kellnergram]

"The listen to it again" strategy works well with Shostakovich, but what about with, say, Celine Dion?

[sshuck]

Never got that far. :)

[mozartisgodly]

Ha ha

[GannondorfsKitsune]

Wow I agree.

[cutefidgety]

first time i listened to shos 5 i went 'eww, yuck!'. then it grew on me.... same goes for the other symphonies, i guess

[wjsado]

@sshuck hey dont be insulting miestersinger

[sshuck]

@wjsado Or what, he'll kick my butt with positivity and song? (Ha ha...I deserve all sorts of thumbs down from the Meistersinger supporters out there. Oh, and you misspelled Meistersinger.)

[hermannhesse1973]

The orchestra is: WDR Symphony Orchestrea Cologne / Conductor:

Rudolf Barshai

[alduflo]

lol this is like totally shostakovich right here man!! XD

awesome

[aragorn123sg]

yup i also watched it last night

very captivating

[Jhobbs5546]

strangely unique piece, i saw it in concert last night. It is amazing how well it fits in to the story, i love the march theme and the pizzicato strings theme.. great piece, and i dont usually go for shosta, my favorate piece is his 5th symphony though

[lolcow]

who are the orchestra and conductor? thx.

[GannondorfsKitsune]

Seriously just stop... its getting old.

[hhhhhhyy]

Yeah Snoopd god all the way.

*sarcazm

[joeardanillo]

u suck

u really fucking suck!

[ilkinond]

I think there is some fine music in this work - just that the march theme is an awful piece of misjudgment. I prefer the Bartok/Concerto for Orchestra version of the theme.

[GannondorfsKitsune]

Finally a good comment

[karoloandria]

this is one of the best examples of the greatness of shostakovich. how he mix the romantic period whit the classical, the new things of the 20th century, the popular music and even jazz

great

[ilkinond]

God awful crap - that march theme is an dreadful embarrassment - I cant believe that there are people who still take this music seriously - doesn't matter if it was written during the seige of Leningrad - the music is still complete shit.

[mazurmusic7]

When you compose something better, then you can talk smack.

[GannondorfsKitsune]

Thank you for defending shostakovich.

[ninyae]

Then I guess it would be a given that you would not like punk rock?

[ninyae]

I'm having a dig at you. If you are so fussy within the sphere of classical music, God knows what your general attitude to music might be! And I think you have given us a strong indication of that! Punk generally was a political stance against the straight laced confines that can be found within many spheres of music and at that time, the political constraints of the corporate music industry, which was and still is disgusting. Your fart comment was a punk thing to say!

[ilkinond]

Yes, wasn't it utterly indecorous, wasn't it simply the height of tastelessness.

[atralfalgar]

ninyae, God don't exists !

[ElLinus]

Ilkinond, I adore this Symphony, as well as the music of Clash, or even some songs of Sex Pistols, or the uncomparable genius of Pink Floyd. I can listen to the terzo movimento of the 3° symphony of Brahms, or the "Unfinished" of Schumann as well as Aphex Twin's "Come to Daddy"...

Music is music, even when I play didgeridoo.

;-P

[DarthKrattus]

I love both classical (Shosty) and punk rock. Why can't you like both? They're both extreme forms of musical expressionism. Stop being close-minded and learn to see the art in different types of music.

[ilkinond]

My dear boy, I am a connoisseur of fine music and art. There is no question therefore of my liking atrocious settings of adolescent poetry to the cacophonous screams of primate vocalists and the roar of repetitively strummed guitars. Good God.

As to your Shosty, he is a composer of some note, and did write some fine works. The Seventh Symphony is not one of them. You will have to learn more about music before you can make pronouncements about classical composers.

[DarthKrattus]

It's pretty sad if you resort to condescension to make yourself feel better.

All I can say is: You will have to learn more about music before you can make pronouncements about punk rock. Because it's more than "adolescence" and "screams". You obviously haven't listened to the Clash, Patti Smith, or the Ramones.

[ilkinond]

Indeed I have never listened to that collection of imbeciles, nor will I ever do so. The self assigned 'punk' designation is apt enough as far as I am concerned.

[JonhnyGrave108]

man, music isnt made for elite...

its made for open mindness which is the exact oposite.. if you re trying to follow some religious, dogmatic kinda code, you're fooling yourself and loosing the other side of the fun... i have had classical teaching, jazz and also enjoy everybit of music which gets in my soul.. cuz thats all that matters.. and mokcing teenagers is quite redundant for such self righteouness speech.. were you not childish and youngster once?... lame argument.. yeh..

[ilkinond]

@JonhnyGrave108 Well you go and enjoy your punk rock then. I'll choose to give it a cosmic birth, thanks all the same.

[yumyumwhatzohai]

wow are you real? You seem to be like a caricature out of a bad novella.

[ilkinond]

Read many of those, have you?

[Jitpring]

Those of sound taste have no choice but to reject "punk rock" and everything else of its demotic ilk.

[allabilli]

the 7 symphony is abbout the invasion of the germans in the soviet union.

first you hear a peacefull country and suddenly the fights starts, the last part is the heroic part, at the end you get thears in the eyes, such a beautyfull music!

best recording : deffently the concertgebouworchestra (netherlands)!!

this video i suggest her above is the 8 symphony, its also a warsymphony but you feel the horror and war so well composed by dmitri shostakovich.

my favorite composer.

alain

belgium

[ScriabinFanatic]

No the symphony is about a city being destroyed by its own people and then finished off by the Germans. It had to be discreet because Shostakovich had already been denounced before for some of his music. Lady Macbeth for example. But he was later quoted for saying that this piece is about such!

[atralfalgar]

Really great !

[ArturoAlejandroS]

I have waited to see this in Youtube.I like very much, but much this symphony.I imagine Lenin or Stalin in the URSS speaking to people and at the same time they crush and oprimes the people.

[GannondorfsKitsune]

Yes i wanted to see this on youtube to but no one ever uploaded it so i had to do it myself. Also i to could imagine Lenin or Stalin using this symphony to speak to make there voices seam very ominous and use fear to rule.

[ArturoAlejandroS]

This music makes me imagine at first a USA theme of Presidents, but after, Lenin and Stalin, speaking about the marvels of the revolution and "all brothers or comrades" and this sorts of things.

Is an ominous theme, powerful, and seems even happy.

Thanks for your response.

[regimaster5000000]

Cool. Really like Shostakovich. His music is nice