As a teen, I started listening to the orchestra through film scores, such as Goldsmith, Williams, etc; discovering Shostakovich, Prokofiev and the like revealed my true taste in music.
Wonderful and interesting lecture on Shostakovich. Very thought-provoking commentary/analysis on his music. I was intrigued by the plainly thematic connections between his symphonies and his art songs. Also enjoyed the video footage of Shostakovich.
I’ve listened to these sublime lectures on the wonderful Shostakovich quartets, and also those he gave on the Beethoven Quartets more times than I could count….. Will there ever be a similar lecture series on the *other* series of must-hear 20th century String Quartets: the 6 quartets by Bartók? I feel it’s a glaring omission. 2 out of the 3 greatest sets of string quartets down, one to go…… (with Michael Parloff, of course!) Make it happen!
I just finished listening to Russian history 1, & 2, very good lecture, learn so much of the Russian Novel land, the roots of the ballet etc...... thank you so much.
Wonderful lecture and that last quote can be extrapolated to many others. The term hero had been degraded to a meaningless label. The term consequential has luckily not yet.
45:00 Y'know, as much as it was wrong for Stalin to threaten death for Shosty's work, that "Lady Macbeth" play is really gross. I don't understand the appeal.
