Shostakovich's 4th Symphony 1

[FilmRomMusDrawingWar]

Tragedy, grotesque, violence, parody... call it like you like, this is his internal world and expression of his vision of world. Who knows where would he go with his music if there was no opresive regime. In one opinion he needed restrictions. Gergiev said that his music became better after the 1936. in documentary about Dmitri. I just want to hear this kind of fantasia like music, free and formally less bounded. It is said that this is his most Mahlerian symphony. Maybe that is why I like it.

[MrNahueldira]

I don´t like this conductor very much. In this piece yes, but somethimes he plays very in his own way, he make it sound a little strange, diferent as the work was thought...thats my opinion.

[AnasTangi]

This Maestro is good!

[MrDjeeep]

@AnasTangi This is Valery Gergiev, the Best one))))

[miepdetruus]

@MrDjeeep yeah, he's awesome!

[BrucknerMotet]

The ending of the final movement is, to me, the sound of the squandering of everything good in life by an overzealous dictatorship hiding behind a stilted set of ideological justifications for minimizing civil liberties and maximizing oligarchy. On an epic scale covering decades of time. Thomas Mann, in Dr. Faustus (ostensibly about the life of a composer), describes in words the same feeling of everything great about Germany and being a German getting squandered by the Fuhrer's intermeddling.

[jezmuff]

Look at that squad of horns!

[shinytooth23]

Can someone tell me the key of this piece?

[brutusbassoon]

@shinytooth23 it's marked as c minor, but it moves all over the place.

[ezev8logos]

@brutusbassoon I think it's marked as c major

[brutusbassoon]

@ezev8logos it's not. it's key (like oh so many other things about it) are influenced by Mahler's 2nd, also in c minor, which he was studying at the time.

[brutusbassoon]

@ezev8logos it's not.

[jezmuff]

@shinytooth23  Lol I hardly think it matters

[josejimenezurrea]

The director is not Ashkenazy!! He is Valery Gergiev.

[ezekieloak]

Some great day folks will start actually talking about Shostakovich's harmonic creativity, formal ingenuity and blistering genius and stop talking about the bloody musically-irrelevant Yosef Stalin of the Soviet Union. Some day.

I look forward to that day! How about you?

Do we herald the immaculate Chopin because of Napoleon Bonaparte, the Congress of Vienna or Louis Napoleon Bonaparte? -Do we?

The monumental work of J.S.Bach is not renowned because of Frederick II of Prussia, is it? -Is it?

[LLJtbone]

Alright, this is what I need. I don't know about how "Soviet" it sounds? Loving the low brass <3 Every composer has their sound and this guy was a real genius.

[JASmahler]

I LOVE gergiev...I saw him last night conducting the Mariinsky Orchestra in Chicago. Amazing as always.

[TheOmninovoi]

what's the orchestra? who's the conductor?

[smilehappy91]

@TheOmninovoi: London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev

[SMartensCellist]

@jezmuff Politics doesn't translate into music? When's the last time you studied music at ALL? If politics doesn't translate into music, then how do you explain Beethoven's 3rd symphony? (Look it up, dumbass).

People who lived under the soviet union had the right to get emotional and express themselves by writing music, just like you have the right to express your ignorance and stupidity by posting dumb shit on the internet and acting like it's logically sound.

[conewells]

Great stuff for a movie soundtrack. Even Roger Corman used his music for a low budget sci-fi flick called THE BEAST WITH A MILLION EYES.  (without giving him credit)

[BrucknerMotet]

@conewells I wonder if Roger Corman had any idea that Dmitri Shostakovich spent his early years banging out themes on the silent movie house keyboard. His memes and themes were heavily influenced by the swift movement of the film medium, so episodic and yet with great care for development of theme, continuity of idea, and clever transition statements.

[conewells]

@BrucknerMotet You are absolutely right, my friend. Corman knew what he was doing, liked what he heard, and jumped on it. The music made his low-budget hack job a lot more intriguing.

[MrDavide914]

his best symphony? only? i think it's by far the greatest orchestral work of the last century

[BritinIsrael]

Shostakovich's most original and stunning symphony. Brilliant composition.

All i can add is.........which idiot sat Comrade Stalin between the tympani and the tam tam??

[EDGJZConglomerate]

Explosive music!

[jezmuff]

Fuck I am tired of people attaching Soviet sentiments of assorted kinds to the music of Shostakovich; every comment, every review, begins with "This piece obviously demonstrates the Soviet..../the Industrial...". I think that very few people on the planet are in a position to actually make such comments, and that it's a real possibility that such comments, in any event, just don't make sense-that there is a fundamendal error in the idea that politics can somehow 'translate' into music.

[JASmahler]

@jezmuff Are you serious? Do you happen to know what Shostakovich's 5th symphony is? MAYBE 4 or 5 of his 15 symphonies ARE politically charged (and are portraits of the Soviet Unions oppression towards his art) and that's one of the reasons that they are so valuable to us. If you're just listening to music for what it sounds like than you are CERTAINLY missing the point. Especially in the case of Dmitri Shostakovich. The political charge behind his music are what make much of it so powerful

[BrucknerMotet]

@jezmuff Well put. I often reflect on how little discussion there is in the Shostakovich videos of his command of orchestration or the development of complex contrapuntal ideas over vast stretches of time. I'd like to hear more folks chime in on how this music promotes the virtues of patience, listening, and musical appreciation.

[jezmuff]

@BrucknerMotet I had to work so hard to fall in love with this piece...I'd say at least a few months

[rapoport3a]

Nice to hear, but sometimes too slack.

This music changed my life, after I turned on a car radio on August 30, 1963 to hear by chance the new (and only) recording at the time, by Ormandy and Philadelphia.

In radio programs a few years later I used as a signature intro the fugato from that LP, that demonically electrifying scream, that gruesome blast at death and life . . . it's at 5:40 in segment 2 of the Gergiev, if you're interested; but do hear the Ormandy some time.

[quinto34]

For about 25 years this music was only played on two piano in private.. Great trip btw, I can recommand the cd version!

Shostakovich cancelled the premiere, scheduled for December 1936 in Leningrad, he feared for his life, not without reason, and it was finally premiered on December 30, 1961 by the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra led by Kondrashin.

[fatalfront]

it is a brilliant piece which illustrates the revolutionary turmoil during the soviet era in shostakovich's eyes. gotta love the intricates in this piece. stalin would have banished this symphony and maybe shostakovich to naught 10x if the first premiere ever happened. i wonder what would happen if someone shoots stalin in his head and says, "this is democracy!" lol

[dragmio]

SalingerX87 you should have said you're feeling like you're doing two jobs, living in a motel and hardly making ends meet. You would be proclaimed genious, probably. For promoting the American Dream, I guess. lol

[prohitskh]

Can anyone tell me which orchestra and hall and the date of this performance, please?

[YouCouns]

I don't know about the date, but I know this is Valery Gergiev conducting the London Symphony Orchestra in the Barbican Hall, in London.

[bordaz1]

This is LSO at the Barbican, Stardate 4,231

[SalingerX87]

i feel like working in an iron factory or making railroads: this music makes me stronger... I'M FEELING SOVIET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!!!!! THANKS FOR UPLOADING...

[DDS1906]

Dude!  You've got this piece completely wrong. this is probably Shostakovich's most anti-soviet work.

[aguador67]

@DDS1906 I don't agree with this statement. His most anti-Soviet work could be 11th or 13th Symphonies :S (in my opinion).

[DDS1906]

@aguador67 true, I should have said "one of his most anti-Soviet works."

[mahler19110]

@DDS1906 that's a touch call to make. At this point in his career and life, Shostakovich was just barely being restrained / harassed by Stalin. I think this was not meant specifically by Dmitri to be anti-Soviet, though I think it was meant to be on the cutting edge of music. The 5th is definitely anti-Soviet in nature, and by design. But I really believe this was just his own musical expression. Only after Stalin objected to Lady MacBeth of Mtensk did Shostakovich pull this work.

[DDS1906]

@mahler19110 Shostakovich didn't write anti-Soviet works in response to being harassed by Stalin, but b/c he was a sensitive, compassionate person who couldn't help writing anything but anti-Soviet works when people around him were dying and being murdered as a result of Stalin's policies. Stalin began implementing his five-year plans in 1928, and by 1935 when Shosty began the 4th Stalin had caused plenty of suffering. So yes the 4th IS anti-soviet though I wouldn't now say his MOST

[gregapage]

Yeah DDS1906, SalingerX87 you fucking idiot!

[SalingerX87]

Man, It's just music... it's just about feelings; not politics or history: music is beyond the ideas.... now, Who's the fuckin' idiot?

[drbluesbp]

on the contrary, music is exceptionally culturally and politically relevant. shostakovich was taking heat from stalin and didn't premiere this piece until YEARS after he composed it out of fear of soviet retribution.

[SalingerX87]

Yeah, you're right: the soviet artists were, during the rise of the soviet union, target of a long persecution: Schostakovich is the best known figure of this tragedy. Nevertheless, the music is a language beyond the political situations: it's the language of our deepest feelings: that's what i'm tryin' to say... But thanks for your words...

[drbluesbp]

not many musicologists would agree with you. music contains very specific signifiers. shostakovich actually used political elements to appease the regime in his 5th and later symphonies, such as russian folk songs. everything in music has meaning to the specific culture from whence it came. i do appreciate your passion though!

[SalingerX87]

The political elemets are not equal with the folk influences: for example, Bartok... Here with Schostakovich: he's just a composer, a gifted whan among a totalitarism: he was a great individual sinked into the history... it's difficult here to appreciate the politic and the biographical elements in the Schostakovich's works... Thank you for share your ideas... i'm very interested...

[ScriabinFanatic]

I thought it was more than just years, Wasn't this not played until the 60's or 70's when it was composed 40's-50's

[Larker999]

er.....that's how he wrote the symphony....in constant fear of Stalin. But if the song motivates you, that's fine, I guess...?

I think his 5th symphony is better suited to what you think. Especially the opening.

[PhiliptheFace]

who is conducting?

[JorPove]

Valery Gergiev

[thereader]

Amazing!

[NailI3unny]

Is this LSO?

[schnozz87]

yes

[SupermansDead93]

his 4th is by far his greatest

[Choen444]

@SupermansDead93 I THink it is very very underated but its not his greates.

[jezmuff]

@SupermansDead93 I think it's certainly one of his greatest, but obviously not especially 'mature', having regard at least to his other symphonic writing.

[OrodesIII]

@SupermansDead93

Shostakovich would disagree with you.

[jezmuff]

@SupermansDead93  I TOTALLY AGREE!!!

[amybesp]

Few years ago, the top of this symphony was used in japan as the background music in a television commercial of ice cream.

[Gonnakillyou]

>in a television commercial of ice cream.

They sure are... unusual folk.

[RainMan34]

Ahead of their time, perhaps. You want to hear another commercial of some shitty LOUD over-produced hip hop drum loop instead?

[Gonnakillyou]

If it's appropriate, sure. If it isn't, then not. It's that simple.

[ScriabinFanatic]

I could imagine a commercial where a fight ensues over some delicious ice creams.

[nublado0208]

magnífico!

[atralfalgar]

great interpretation of Schostakovitch's 4th !

[musicccluv]

i just attended a performance of this symphony by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra last night and it was amazing!!!! Shostakovich is a genius!

[ecwaufisxtreme]

Awesome performance!!! That orchestra is HUGE!!! Gergiev is still doing his eccentric fluttering and flapping. There is that one part where he moves his hands horizontally back and forth instead of giving a 4 pattern. He is just giving 2 and 3 over and over again in a 4/4 passage. Very weird.

[harryhume]

Ooooh saw this at the Proms. Great piece, lots of fun.

[wataken1128]

Extremely high passioned music and excellent performance.Very amazing.

[wataken1128]

Extremely high passioned music and excellent performance.Very amazing.

[iongmail]

Спасибо вам огромное за эту запись! Моя любимая симфония.

[SaraVaughanfan]

Awesome music! Fascinating!

[mrmuch]

There are many reasons for one to like or appreciate several of his other symphonies more than this symphony, but this 4th, Shostakovich's "problem child" has always been my favorite. I wonder what his output would've sounded like had he pursued the course he set here, unimpeded by Stalin's censure and disapproval...

[lucatrica]

this is awesome, shostakovoch is a genius, and gergiev fantastic !!!

[joshnavon]

This is the greatest symphony ever written (for me). Not the best interpretation, but up there. Awesome that it's all on youtube. Thanks.

[vladviolin]

awesome gergiev is a great conductor

[Gollam12]

Shostakovich is the best

[grancivetta]

thank you for posting!!! this is such a powerful performance