Many consider Dmitri Shostakovich the greatest composer of the 20th century. Born September 25, 1906, he might not have lived past his teens if he hadn't been talented. During the famines of the Revolutionary period in Russia, Alexander Glazunov, director of the Petrograd (later Leningrad) Conservatory, arranged for the poor and malnourished Shostakovich's food ration to be increased. Shostakovich's Symphony No. 1, his graduation exercise for Maximilian Steinberg's composition course at the Conservatory, was completed in 1925 at age 19 and was an immediate success worldwide. He was The Party's poster boy; his Second and Third Symphonies unabashedly subtitled, respectively, "To October". (celebrating the Revolution) and "The First of May". (International Workers' Day).
His highly emotional harmonic language is simultaneously tough yet communicative, but his expansion of Mahlerian symphonic structure, dissonances, sardonic irony, and dark moods eventually clashed with the conservative edicts of Communist Party officials. In 1936 he was viciously denounced by Pravda...
His highly emotional harmonic language is simultaneously tough yet communicative, but his expansion of Mahlerian symphonic structure, dissonances, sardonic irony, and dark moods eventually clashed with the conservative edicts of Communist Party officials. In 1936 he was viciously denounced by Pravda...
- 9/26/2016
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Hungarian-born conductor George Szell (1897-1970) never intended to settle in the United States, but when World War II started in 1939, that's where he was, and he stayed. After well-received guest appearances with the NBC Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera, and the New York Philharmonic, in 1946 he became a U.S. citizen and became the Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra, which he proceeded to raise it from mid-level regional status to one of the Big Five U.S. orchestras.
By the time of these 1958-60 recordings, not only had he spent twelve years refining the Clevelanders into one of the greatest orchestras not just in the U.S but in the world, he'd had them playing Schumann nearly every season, so by the time they went into the studio to record this cycle for Epic, they could produce through their unsurpassed precision exactly the sort of clarity that Schumann's thick orchestration needs.
By the time of these 1958-60 recordings, not only had he spent twelve years refining the Clevelanders into one of the greatest orchestras not just in the U.S but in the world, he'd had them playing Schumann nearly every season, so by the time they went into the studio to record this cycle for Epic, they could produce through their unsurpassed precision exactly the sort of clarity that Schumann's thick orchestration needs.
- 10/24/2015
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
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