Things That Irritate Me

Things that irritate me:
     Spelling Shostakovich with a C.
     That wet-window photo.
     Selling CD's for $22.68 on eBay.
All right, I'm okay now.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SHOSTAKOVICH-DMITRY-CHOSTAKOVITCH-CONCERTO-POUR-PIANO-NOS-1-amp-2-NEW-CD-/291410924581?&_trksid=p2056016.m2516.l5255

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SHOSTAKOVICH-DMITRY-CHOSTAKOVITCH-CONCERTO-POUR-PIANO-NOS-1-amp-2-NEW-CD-/291410924581?&_trksid=p2056016.m2516.l5255

Note:  I'd better be careful. Things that irritate me could become a very long series.

French doesn't have a Sh combination. They use Ch. I don't have to like it.

Check out my blog posts that spell Shostakovich with an S. Mostly.

01464

Album Review: Prokofiev and Shostakovich Cello Concerti

Sergei Prokofiev, Symphonie Concertante pour Violoncelle, Op. 125
Dmitri Shostakovich, Cello Concerto No. 1, Op. 107
Mstislav Rostropovich, Cello
Seiji Ozawa, London Symphony Orchestra, 1988, Erato

The most thrilling concert I ever attended featured Mstislav Rostropovich leading the National Symphony Orchestra in an all-Tchaikovsky program. André Watts was the soloist for the Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto. This would have been the spring season of 1982 at Carnegie Hall. It's a little sad that I haven't been to anything quite as outstanding since, but I have done far less concert-going in recent years.

Rostropovich was a great conductor, but first and foremost he was a cellist. He is responsible for commissioning a significant portion of the 20th century's cello repertory, and this is likely to be his most lasting legacy.

Two fine Russian works for cello and orchestra are featured on this 1988 recording. Both works are dedicated to Rostropovich, who plays them outstandingly here with the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Seiji Ozawa.

Sergei Prokofiev's Symphonie Concertante, Op. 125, dates from 1950. It is probably the lesser known work here. It is introspective at times with fine solo passages.

Dmitri Shostakovich's First Cello Concerto, Op. 107 from 1959 has long been a favorite of mine since I first owned the 1984 Yo-Yo Ma recording of the piece on cassette. The Concerto dates from 1959 and is captivating and compelling from the initial exposition of the theme in the first bars.

572

A Shostakovich Autograph Musical Quotation, Signed

I have commented before here that a drawing by an artist is more desirable than a simple autograph, while a writer's thoughtful inscription is more meaningful than a plain signature. In the case of composers, one of the great collectibles is the autograph musical quotation, signed.

I understand how artists draw and how writers write much better than I understand how composers compose. While I could sit at a piano and compose an unadorned theme in C major with mostly quarter notes and eighth notes, I can't conceive of composing a syncopated, polyphonic score such as the one below. Dmitri Shostakovich is one of my favorite composers and his Fifth Symphony is perhaps his most popular work. Can composers just write out their music like this from memory? Probably quite easily, but it's beyond me.

The score:

Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 Score

http://www.boosey.com/shop/prod/Symphony-No-5-in-D-minor-Op-47-Hawkes-Pocket-Scores-series/603275

The auction listing from Swann Galleries:

Sale 1965 Lot 253

SHOSTAKOVICH, DIMITRI. Autograph Musical Quotation Signed, the opening two bars from his Fifth Symphony, one system written in piano score with both treble and bass lines, Signed and dated below the quotation, written in blue ink. 1 page, 31/2x51/2 inch sheet of pink paper apparently removed from an autograph album. Leningrad, 1 April 1938

Estimate $1,200-1,800

Sold for $3,910

Apr 03 2003 10:30

http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=1965+++++253+&refno=++522172&saletype=

Valery Gergiev conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra:

Shostakovich - Symphony No. 5

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 Apr 03 2003 10:30