The Night Stalin died (and Prokofiev)

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/05/magazine/the-night-stalin-died.html?sec=&spon=&&scp=2&sq=rostislav%20dubinsky&st=cse

Boulez, a torrent of energy and mastery, at 84

You have to impose your will - not with a hammer, but you have to be able to convince people of your point of view."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/aug/28/classicalmusicandopera2

Conclusion of Bartok and Shostakovich Essay

One can speculate that the tragic personal experiences of the two composers, especially Shostakovich's, greatly affected the development of their compositional styles, possibly leading them both to write in a darker, more macabre style. An interesting connection between the two composers is that both had trouble getting performances of their works, largely because of government censorship. Much of Bartók and Shostakovich's music was not easily accepted at first. Bartók's famous Miraculous Mandarin was rejected because of its sexual content, and Stalin denounced Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth opera, effectively banning much of his music for a number of years. Sadly, Shostakovich and Bartók were never fully accepted in their native countries during their lives. Continuous rejection and pressure is what caused Bartók to emigrate to America in later life, and Shostakovich was so deeply disturbed by Totalitarian Russia, and the death and imprisonment of so many of his friends and family by Stalin, that he nearly committed suicide. Bartok’s Miraculous Mandarin was meant to depict the ugliness and chaos of the materialistic society in which he lived, a society marred by prostitution and violence. These and other factors contributed to Bartok’s declaration that the Miraculous Mandarin "will be hellish music if I succeed."
Although both quartets mentioned incorporate many of the same general musical elements; use of folk material, arch form, rhythmic ingenuity, each piece is distinctly Bartókian and Shostakovian respectively. The most striking difference between the two quartets is the way they end. Bartók's piece ends in a triumphant Allegro molto. Shostakovich on the other hand, ends his piece with a lamenting Largo. Though both composers were inclined to representing the darker side of human nature, in the case of these two string quartets, Shostakovich certainly “out-bluebeards” Bartók.
Works Cited
"Bartok Virtual Exhibition TOC." Zenetudom. 03 Jan. 2009 .
Bloom, Cecil. "Shostakovich and the Jews." Midstream Magazine Sept. 2006: 38-42.
Braddell, Rory. "The Mounting of a Jewel." Braddellr. 03 Jan. 2009 .
Downes, Stephen. "Eros in the Metropolis." Journal of the Royal Musical Association 125 (2000): 41-61.
Fanning, David. Shostakovich : String Quartet No. 8. Ed. Wyndham Thomas. Grand Rapids: Ashgate, Limited, 2004.
Glyde, Judith. "From Oppression to Expression." Strings 1 Oct. 2002.
Hughes, Peter. "BELA BARTOK: COMPOSER." Harvard Square Library | Unitarian Biographies | Cambridge | History | Philosophy. 03 Jan. 2009 .
Ladd, MIchael. "Bartok: SQ4 Analysis." BayArea Santa Clara Sunnyvale Mountain View Palo Alto San Francisco San Jose Silicon Valley Colocation, Co-location. 03 Jan. 2009 .
Ladd, Michael. "Formal Considerations in Bela Bartok's 4th string quartet."
"Music under Soviet rule: Eighth Quartet." Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. 03 Jan. 2009 .
Ross, Alex. The Rest Is Noise : Listening to the Twentieth Century. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2007.
Shostakovich, Dmitriaei Dmitrievich, and Solomon Volkov. Testimony : The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich. New York: Amadeus P, 2004.

Side by Side

Some of the notable similarities between these two quartets by Bartók and Shostakovich are their usage of folk melody, their insistent, exhilarating rhythmic vitality, their harmonic complexity, and their symmetrical nature. Bartók was fond of writing in the arch form, in which material from different movements would appear and develop in unique ways. Both Shostakovich's string quartet no. 8, and Bartók's no. 4 are written in five movements, and both are very symmetrical works. Although Bartók's symmetry is more obvious, there is still an underlying arch idea at work in Shostakovich's 8th. In the final movement of the 8th quartet, Shostakovich returns to the famous DSCH theme in the German notation, (representing his name), and develops it into a full fugue. In the same way, Bartók reintroduces a theme from the first movement of the fourth quartet into the crushing finale. A remarkable coincidence is that both themes are very similar, with the first two notes being identical. (D Eb E D Db for Bartók, D, Eb C, and B for Shostakovich.)

Shostakovich

The myth of Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8, often labeled the Dresden quartet, is that it was inspired by a tour of the fire-bombed city of Dresden in 1960. The carnage and destruction that Shostakovich witnessed apparently inspired him to write the piece in a remarkable 3 days, and he dedicated it to 'the victims of fascism and war'. Later on, scholars began to realize that the dedication to the 'victims of fascism and war' is really a coded dedication to the victims of Stalin's Soviet regime. It is also thought that Shostakovich had composed much of the piece in his head, prior to writing it down.
One of the reasons this quartet is so appealing to modern audiences, myself included, and one of Shostakovich's most popular, is due to its unyielding, almost maniacal rhythmic drive. The famous second movement, now known as the "Dance of Death", incorporates a Jewish melody turned on its head. Interruptive and shocking accents abound throughout the piece, and the melody is belted out with such super charged motion that it seems on the verge of collapse.

Me and Pierre Boulez

http://21stcenturyclassical.blogspot.com/2009/03/2-hours-with-pierre-boulez.html

William Kapell

The Golden Sound