# Shostakovich: Lady macbeth



## SCHLEMO (Jun 19, 2015)

Keep Listening: It Works
Years ago my older cousin Harold said that he preferred Shostakovich to the more "traditional" composers. At the time, my father and I thought that he was a heretic. I don't know if my cousin had a recording of Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth, for example; but if he did, I am sure that my father would have excommunicated him on the spot. 
Although I have outgrown my father's prejudice, I never purchased any choral works by Shostakovich until I picked up a hugely discounted 5-CD Decca anthology. For about two dollars apiece, I'd try anything unfamiliar to me. 
At first listening, I felt that the music was harsh, unmelodious, inanely melodramatic, and even puerile; I wanted to trash the opera and the miscellaneous songs whether verses by Michelangelo or renditions of Japanese poetry. But I persevered. I repeatedly played all five Cd's. To my surprise, I got fonder of the music the more I heard it. I found some tuneful spots amidst the whisperings, wailing, fierce declamations and hysterics of Lady Macbeth. And I got accustomed to the rhythms of the songs, especially the selections from Jewish Folk Poetry. 
I am now a believer: my cousin is vindicated.


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