# Shostakovich questions



## Aurelian (Sep 9, 2011)

Politically, Shostakovich could not have gotten away with writing 12-tone music. Still, are there any indications what he thought of this technique?

Does somebody have the full text of the infamous "Muddle Instead of Music" article from 1936?

Did Shostakovich realize how difficult his First Violin Concerto was? Maybe he had the attitude "My buddy Oistrakh can play anything"?


----------



## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Aurelian said:


> Politically, Shostakovich could not have gotten away with writing 12-tone music. Still, are there any indications what he thought of this technique?


He was interested in it to the degree that he wrote some pieces using tone rows in a non-serial fashion. He also held Schoenberg and especially Berg in very high esteem. We shouldn't take his public condemnations of the technique too seriously; they fall into the same category as his public criticisms of Stravinsky, whose music he admired greatly.

Unfortunately, as you imply, he had no way of expressing his true thoughts on the matter.



Aurelian said:


> Does somebody have the full text of the infamous "Muddle Instead of Music" article from 1936?


I can't vouch for the accuracy of the translation, but here you go:
http://www.arnoldschalks.nl/tlte1sub1.html



Aurelian said:


> Did Shostakovich realize how difficult his First Violin Concerto was? Maybe he had the attitude "My buddy Oistrakh can play anything"?


Someone else will have to answer that one.


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Aurelian said:


> Did Shostakovich realize how difficult his First Violin Concerto was? Maybe he had the attitude "My buddy Oistrakh can play anything"?


Oistrakh worked through several revisions with the composer, so he probably had a hand in its difficulty. But there are many fine recordings by other violinists who play it very well indeed, including a couple I prefer to Oistrakh.

Another curious question about this work: It was written in 1948 but not premiered for seven years, in 1955. This is often laid to Shostakovich's wait for the political climate to change after Stalin's death. But he was happy enough to premier his equally suspect 10th symphony in 1953, when Stalin was hardly cold in his grave. So why wait two more years for the Violin Concerto?

I read somewhere that it was due to political cold feet on the part of Oistrakh, and Shostakovich was pretty impatient with him over the delay.


----------



## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Aurelian said:


> Did Shostakovich realize how difficult his First Violin Concerto was? Maybe he had the attitude "My buddy Oistrakh can play anything"?


Shostakovich had a thorough grasp of instrumentation and instrumental technique, which he credited to his lessons with Maximillian Shteynberg. Nevertheless, he had an accomplished violinist in Leningrad, Veniamen Basner, read through the First Concerto because he wanted to check that a few passages about which he had doubts were feasible. Basner said it was all perfectly playable as written. Oistrakh later confirmed that not a note needed to be changed. As the premiere approached, Oistrakh requested that he be spelled during the recap of the main theme in the finale, so Shostakovich gladly reassigned the theme for orchestra.


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Interesting. I was depending on Wiki for my information: "In the time between the work's initial completion and the first performance on 29 October 1955, the composer and its dedicatee, David Oistrakh, worked on a number of revisions."


----------



## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

KenOC said:


> Oistrakh worked through several revisions with the composer, so he probably had a hand in its difficulty. But there are many fine recordings by other violinists who play it very well indeed, including a couple I prefer to Oistrakh.


Maxim Vengerov plays the hell out of it and made at least one great recording of it.


----------



## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

KenOC said:


> Interesting. I was depending on Wiki for my information: "In the time between the work's initial completion and the first performance on 29 October 1955, the composer and its dedicatee, David Oistrakh, worked on a number of revisions."


I was using Laurel Fay's biography of Shostakovich and Elizabeth Wilson's _Shostakovich: A life Remembered_. Fay mentions only the single  alteration in the finale. In _A Life Remembered_ Basner describes his trial run (trembling because he had to sightread it in front of the composer) and Oistrakh's later "plea for mercy" before the premier seven years later that resulted in the eight bar rest in the finale. Basner was at the rehearsal where the plea was made.


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

EdwardBast said:


> I was using Laurel Fay's biography of Shostakovich and Elizabeth Wilson's _A life Remembered_. Fay mentions only the single alteration in the finale.


 Yes, this is mentioned on the talk page: "During the rehearsals for the premiere, David Oistrakh asked Shostakovich to please give the violinist a rest between the cadenza and the Burlesca. Shostakovich happily complied and re-scored the opening of the finale for the winds and xylophone that we hear today... This information is mentioned in Wilson's _Shostakovich Remembered _and Fay's _Shostakovich: A Life_."

Most curious. If Oistrakh had been poring over the work for seven years, why would he request such a major change during final rehearsals? And in fact, he (supposedly) had played the work through with Shostakovich as early as 1948.

BTW I have and like Vengerov, but my fave is still Lydia Mordkovitch, who passed away late last year.


----------



## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

KenOC said:


> Yes, this is mentioned on the talk page: "During the rehearsals for the premiere, David Oistrakh asked Shostakovich to please give the violinist a rest between the cadenza and the Burlesca. Shostakovich happily complied and re-scored the opening of the finale for the winds and xylophone that we hear today... This information is mentioned in Wilson's _Shostakovich Remembered _and Fay's _Shostakovich: A Life_."
> 
> Most curious. If Oistrakh had been poring over the work for seven years, why would he request such a major change during final rehearsals? And in fact, he (supposedly) had played the work through with Shostakovich as early as 1948.
> 
> BTW I have and like Vengerov, but my fave is still Lydia Mordkovitch, who passed away late last year.


I think Oistrakh was probably doing other things for most of those seven years  Why request the last minute change? Fatigue and terror at the impending performance would be my guess.


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Yes, with Shostakovich a whole lot comes down to speculation, even though we have so much evidence of his life. Everybody remembers things differently! I very much enjoyed Wilson's book but when I finished it I wasn't sure I knew much more about Shostakovich than when I started.


----------



## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

I still think Oistrakh owns this piece


----------



## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

KenOC said:


> Yes, with Shostakovich a whole lot comes down to speculation, even though we have so much evidence of his life. Everybody remembers things differently! I very much enjoyed Wilson's book but when I finished it I wasn't sure I knew much more about Shostakovich than when I started.


I think the Wilson adds lots of color and detail. And isn't it better to have more than one account, even - indeed, especially - if the accounts diverge? At least that way one has the hope of triangulating something approximating the truth. Malcolm Brown's _Shostakovich: A Case Study_ provides more first hand accounts that can be added to the picture.


----------

