Shostakovich has been inhabiting my listening and watching this week.
String Quartet No.3 In F Major, Op.7
(A Monty Python-esque piece, especially the first movement. Something familiar starts us off [a BBC newsreader sitting behind a desk/an attractive little melody], crazy stuff happens, then the familiar thing reappears. Repeat. Repeat. I also think the third and fourth movements were meant to flip the bird at the Soviet "proletariat" committees that interfered and meddled with the works of artists, composers, and choreographers.)
I like this recording because the Borodin Quartet doesn't shy away from the atonal qualities in much of the piece. Some recordings "clean up" the music, probably in an attempt to please conservative listeners, by trying to force a more Romantic sound.
The Nose
(the William Kentridge staging and production of the opera is
insane)
The Bolt
(music for a ballet that was performed once, then banned by the Party)
