Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Good question ...

... even if no real answer is given: How Does Music Mean? (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Not sure what to make of this:
Ross describes in some detail the late string quartets of Shostakovich, written largely to escape the eye of Stalin (who didn't pay much attention to chamber music) — especially the eighth quartet, "one of the most extraordinary autobiographical pieces in musical history." It was written following a visit to Dresden, the scene of the heavy Allied bombings of February 1945; in Ross' account, it is tragic, disquieting, apprehensive, and pessimistic (257).
Shostakovich wrote 15 string quartets. I think of the late ones as the last four, written between 1968 and 1974, long after Stalin went to his eternal reward in 1953. Even No. 8 dates to 1960, seven years after Stalin's demise, so hardly written to escape the dictator's eye. I know - picky, picky.

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