Austin Symphonic Band Performing Folk Dances by Dmitri Shostakovich

Описание: Austin Symphonic Band. February 1, 2020 concert at the Luis “Chico” Portillo Performing Arts Center in Austin TX. ASB performing Folk Dances by Dmitri Shostakovich (ed. H. Robert Reynolds). Music Director Richard Floyd conducting. Concert title: "Classics Old & New". Audio recording by On Site Digital, Randy Bryant owner.

From the program notes written by David Cross:

Dimitri Shostakovich (1906–1975)
Edited by H. Robert Reynolds

It’s difficult to think of Shostakovich the musician without considering the driving political forces in his life. He showed great promise at the age of nine as a pianist and was admitted to Petrograd Conservatory four years later. In school, Shostakovich was steered toward great classic Russian composers but instead chose the revolutionary composers such as Stravinsky and Prokofiev. Upon graduation, Shostakovich embarked on the precarious journey of pleasing Joseph Stalin, who believed that not only should socialist theology be embraced through music, but also that dissonance should be limited.

Shostakovich’s first opera, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, did not please Stalin and his second opera, although first hailed by critics, was denounced by the government who forced the same critics to recant their praise.

Shostakovich found more favor in the reception of his symphonies. His fifth symphony, written in 1937, was embraced as an uplifting and triumphant soviet anthem, and his seventh symphony, completed in 1941, just before his work on Folk Dances, also proved to be a buoyant work in a tumultuous time.

In his later years, Shostakovich turned to film, where he was able to skirt government objection and contribute powerful soundtracks.