What do you think?
Rate this book
Shostakovich Symphonies
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 22, 2019
Written by a British writer for a western audience, this evaluation and analysis of Shostakovich's symphonies never strays far from Soviet musicological and aesthetic positions: even his characterization of Zhdanov's 1948 attacks as "more crudely sweeping" than similar 1936 criticisms is footnoted to note acknowledgement of the fact by "the Communist Party Central Committee of 28 May 1958". Thus, though Ottaway is willing to point out various felicities of scoring and moments of inspiration, his final assessment of Symphony 4 could be characterized as "muddle instead of music", which required "a Soviet artist's reply to just criticism" resulting in the Fifth.
Was this the general assessment in 1978, the year before Testimony: The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich? I seem to recall even then some commentators that read criticism of the regime into DSCH's instrumental works, especially Symphonies 10 and 15, but memory might be playing tricks. When given an explicit program, as in 11 and 12, Ottaway goes to town explicating it, but though he refers to Symphony 10's "unrevealed programme", and expresses a similar suspicion about 15, Ottaway indulges in no speculation as to what these programs might be. This is probably wisely cautious, but less fun for the reader. For all its inconclusivity, I generally enjoy speculation about what, if any, "message" is conveyed by instrumental music: what "believing one's own ears" might entail. I note that musicological gadfly Richard Taruskin has recently cast doubt on whether Wilhelm Furtwängler's "wartime recordings" are expressions of defiance of tyranny or morale boosters for a country fighting a losing war for the vilest of causes.
Was this the general assessment in 1978, the year before Testimony: The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich? I seem to recall even then some commentators that read criticism of the regime into DSCH's instrumental works, especially Symphonies 10 and 15, but memory might be playing tricks. When given an explicit program, as in 11 and 12, Ottaway goes to town explicating it, but though he refers to Symphony 10's "unrevealed programme", and expresses a similar suspicion about 15, Ottaway indulges in no speculation as to what these programs might be. This is probably wisely cautious, but less fun for the reader. For all its inconclusivity, I generally enjoy speculation about what, if any, "message" is conveyed by instrumental music: what "believing one's own ears" might entail. I note that musicological gadfly Richard Taruskin has recently cast doubt on whether Wilhelm Furtwängler's "wartime recordings" are expressions of defiance of tyranny or morale boosters for a country fighting a losing war for the vilest of causes.
Displaying 1 of 1 review