tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3205961612182676788.post769425841042869843..comments2024-01-08T22:41:34.409+00:00Comments on Aquarium of Vulcan: ShostakovichKevin Faulknerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15482886706239506749noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3205961612182676788.post-10228597680586559632010-05-18T10:14:34.869+01:002010-05-18T10:14:34.869+01:00I enjoyed hearing Copland's Clarinet concerto ...I enjoyed hearing Copland's Clarinet concerto last year. Had the privilege of being collectively thanked by Benjamin Britten as a school-boy when singing in his Noyes Flood. Shostakovich string quartets are great, but not the happiest music to listen to, indicative of his long-standing suffering.Kevin Faulknerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15482886706239506749noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3205961612182676788.post-10615576504023831932010-05-17T20:24:18.630+01:002010-05-17T20:24:18.630+01:00Amen to Shostakovich's 10th symphony and the s...Amen to Shostakovich's 10th symphony and the superior understanding that a Russian orchestra brings to it—and to other Russian works. Similarly, British musicians are best on Britten. Russian and Czech orchestras don't quite get Copland right, either. I love string quartets, and Shostakovich's not least. I well remember the almost clandestine pleasure of Russian artists and living composers and the grotesque attempts to justify them in the liner notes. But I am old enough to have gotten Peter and the Wolf with a candid description of its program on 78 rpm disks, 1939.teegeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12719991678290299753noreply@blogger.com