Shostakovich is my favourite 20th century composer, hence it is no surprise that he should, for me, define the status of classical music in respect to the world at large between 1940-2000.
In the Forties, when WWII was in full swing, his picture, incongruously kitted out as a fireman, made the cover of Time magazine, perhaps the first and last time that a living composer of classical music has ever done so. We must remember that at that point, genres of music did not run into the dozens as they do now: alt rock, trance, hip hop, folk and country, etc etc—there was classical music and there was popular music and you could love one or the other or both. Shostakovich the man loved jazz and Shostakovich the composer wrote probably the most popular piece of classical music evoked by (or some say completely unrelated to) WWII: the Seventh (Leningrad) Symphony—either way, the work became the rallying call of the Allied forces, celebrated both in the West and in Soviet Russia.
Of course, the worst of the cultural purges that composers like Shostakovich suffered in the 30s were over by then but even so, he would never again come close to the universal acclaim of that time. Stiill, classical music continued to be popular and new compositions continued through the next few decades to make their way steadily into the core repertoire. I find it incredible how recent some of his last works, which are already as analysed and familiar as anything by Beethoven, actually are: when his last symphony, the 15th was premiered in 1973, the Beatles had already broken up, though the Stones, and the Who and Pink Floyd were very much in evidence. The mysterious shuffling, tingling, clicking end of the 15th symphony is a world away from the heroic cadences of the Leningrade symphony finale, but this work, which is younger than “Hey Jude” is still established core classical repertoire!
Ineresting and very educative for me. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI like Dvorak's New World Symphony very much.