A quick note before we begin: This video is a re-upload ...which is attempting to correct
a slightly ridiculous problem. You see, ...despite being a completely uncontroversial video
about music composition and Shostakovich, ...it was flagged by YouTube, ...who thought they detected
content unsuitable for advertisers. So, they automatically stopped paying me ...and ceased recommending my video. Now, their detection systems are highly sophisticated. First, they look for certain keywords, ...and then they run them through an incredibly complex- No, I- I'm joking. They just flag keywords and they havenât a
clue how to understand context or anything. This is the company developing DeepMind, by the way. Anyway, as you can probably imagine, ...many of the keywords they tend to target ...relate to the turmoil that took place
around the 1930s and '40s. Take a wild guess what Iâm talking about here. The problem for me is that ...this also happens to be the period where Shostakovich
wrote some of his most famous music, So, whenever I say things like: âThis piece was dedicated to the victims of...' [insert name of famous battle or horrible event here] ...an alarm bell at YouTube HQ starts to ring! So, to fix this, ...hereâs what Iâm going to do. When I say the name of this famous leader, ...uh, letâs just call him Iâm going to add a little bleep. L- letâs try it out now. *clears throat* ...wasn't a very nice man. Okay, there we go. Oh, and- Oh, and there will be a few other instances of this too. Uh, one of them is going to be the name
of a certain famous militant group, ...led by um Hold on, let me just draw him... Uh, this guy. Letâs just call them 'The Patsies'. Uh- and I- I'm Iâm also gonna bleep out one or two other keywords, ...where i mention in passing ...some of the terrible things the Patsies did. I mean, whatâs the alternative? Just make something up? In 1944, ...Shostakovich wrote this tragically sad piece uh ...for no particular reason! It was just either... Urgh, just go swimming! But anyway, enough about all that. Letâs get Shosting! When I get asked by other composers
to name some of my favourite music, ...I often get a weird response if I
mention the name 'Shostakovich'. A look that almost says: "Huh?" "I thought you were cool?" It feels a bit like saying to a art student ...that your favourite painting is the Mona Lisa. And I can kind of understand why I get this reaction. In an era where the great pioneers
were contributing new ideas: Bartokâs ethnomusicology, ...Schoenbergâs 12-tone technique, ...Stravinskyâs use of polyrhythm and additive rhythm, ...Lutoslawskiâs aleatoricism, ...Cageâs use of chance, ...Messiaenâs mode of limited transposition, ...Xenakisâs application of mathematical models, ...et cetera, ...Shostakovichâs music does not really seem
quite so experimental by comparison. But I feel that this attitude does him a big disservice. Of the composers I just mentioned, ...all certainly suffered during the political
upheavals of the '30s and '40s. But Shostakovich stands alone ...for having to write music under the
perpetual scrutiny of ideological sociopaths ...for the majority of his life. Sociopaths who imposed conservative rules ...about how art should be created, ...and who often killed those
suspected of disobedience. So, part of Shostakovichâs unique contribution to music, ...which isnât obvious on first listen, ...is how he worked his way around these restrictions. While all other forms of artistic dissent
were being obliterated in the 50á´ |á´á´ Union, ...he still managed to express an
intense outrage and sadness ...via double meaning and clever sleight-of-hand. So in this video, ...Iâm going to look at some of these
interesting features in his music ...to understand how he composed, ...along with some wider context to appreciate why. To begin, ...we need to quickly touch on the political circumstances that he lived through. In 1926, at the age of 19, ...he achieved international
success with his 1st symphony. During this time, ...avant-garde and experimental art
was tolerated by the 50á´ |á´á´ powers, ...and new and exciting music from
the west was still being performed, ...especially ...Bartok, ...Les Six, ...Krenek, ...Hindemith, ...and the âforeign Russiansâ ...Stravinsky and Prokofiev. And in his early years, ...Shostakovich was influenced
by many of these composers, ...particularly Stravinsky. However, between the mid '20s and early '30s, ...as the 50á´ |á´á´ government solidified their power, ...they began banning art forms they disapproved of, ...especially those from the West. By 1932, the official style of the
50á´ |á´á´ Union was announced: 'Socialist Realism'. Its stated purpose was to promote
the agenda of the party: Spreading messages that were uplifting, ...while also being comprehensible
to the common person. In music, this encouraged composers to produce
work laced with patriotism and sentimentality. And new pieces now required official approval too, ...which further pushed composers towards ...unimaginative positivity, ...conventional storytelling, ...and above all, ...simplicity. And although this clearly contradicts how
we feel about artistic freedom today, ...itâs sometimes easy to read about this period ...without appreciating quite how insane it was. So to help us get our heads in the game, ...Iâve devised a little segment called Hello there. My name is Joseph- And today, ...we're going to look at a few artworks together. Jolly good. Letâs get started. Oh, wow. What a way to begin. Look at this commissar dying on the field ...while his compatriot shields him. What bravery! Laying down his life in service of his ideals. The public will learn they shouldnât
mind dying if I ask them to. Very good. What's next? Oh, golly. Uh... this is awful, terrible stuff. Look at these meandering black lines and ...bits of things going everywhere. Abstraction for the sake of abstraction. Thereâs no story, ...thereâs no heroes or horses. Uh, rubbish! And no oneâs going to do what I say if I show them this. Next! Oh, this oneâs good. Lots of common folk all dancing and laughing. People will be able to look at this and think, "I remember that time when I went dancing!" And, let me check... Yeah, uh... None of them seem to be foreign. Thatâs great. Okay, Iâm enjoying this. Subscribed! What's next? Oh, dear... Hell no. This is just childish degeneracy. Colour-dy squares everywhere. It doesnât look like anything youâd see in the real world, ...although ...I suppose it does look a bit like a ladder. But, n- no, no, no. No, this is awful. Iâd like this man shot, please. And... We hear some music. Oh, Soliko! I do love this. So tragic, ...about coming to terms with the loss of a loved one. Useful. Very, very useful message there, ...especially with my schedule. Oh no, not this. Ha- Not having words is bad enough. But without those, you have to have harmony, ...that at least reminds people of things. All this reminds me of is music I donât like. If people hear weird harmony ...theyâll act inharmoniously. And I canât stand it. Have this man killed. Oh, w- what's this now? Turtles? Wha- what are they? Oh, they- They band together to help society
ward off foreign invaders? Ok- okay, I- I think this might have promise. Oh. I- I donât understand. Weird-looking animals that live in a ball? This feels very abstract to me, ...doesnât remind me o- of anythi- No. No, I wonât tolerate this. Have these pakemans killed, ...e- especially that one! But seriously, ...this is the kind of mindset that artists
living in the 50á´ |á´á´ Union had to deal with. And imagine for a moment that this comedic
situation was one that actually applied to your life. If you were disobedient, ...your work might be banned. And if that didnât force you back into step, ...then youâd likely meet a worse fate, ...like the theatre director Vsevolod Meyerhold (a close friend of Shostakovich) ...who was ...and killed in 1940. Shostakovich observed this happening
around him all the time. In the words of his son, Maxim Shostakovich: So with all this in mind, ...Itâs interesting to listen to Shostakovichâs music ...BEFORE this cultural repression really took hold. For example, ...listen to this proto-Ligeti texture
from his 2nd symphony: As time went on, ...and artistic experimentation
came under closer scrutiny, ...he began providing official justifications ...that tried to put his music in a context
the authorities would find acceptable. One example would be the programme note
he wrote for his ballet âThe Golden Ageâ, ...where a 50á´ |á´á´ football team travelling abroad ...comes into contact with
Western culture for the first time. But when you listen to the result, ...itâs pretty obvious that the more
interesting musical developments ...are those representing the West. In the words of the lecturer and
conductor Michael Parloff, "The West gets all the best lines." And this helps to highlight an ongoing
argument about Shostakovichâs legacy: Are the words we just heard those of
a jingoistic, communist ideologue, ...or a somewhat desperate workaround used
to justify an interesting musical experiment? The Golden Age was not
well-regarded by the authorities ...and his work came under ever greater scrutiny. But Shostakovichâs real woes began in 1936, when ...attended his opera âLady Macbeth', ...only to storm out midway through the performance. A few days later, an anonymous article, ...which everyone knew was actually approved by ...himself, ...appeared in the official newspaper Pravda, ...titled 'Muddle Instead of Music'. Hereâs an excerpt: And then came the most famous line of the article, ...a threat that must have made
Shostakovichâs blood run cold: After this event, ...many of his friends distanced themselves ...and his rate of commissions dropped significantly. It was the beginning of his back-and-forth ...in-favour, out-of-favour relationship with ...and his successors, ...who consistently threatened his personal safety. ...as a means of controlling his musical output. Typically, they wanted his music
to celebrate military victories ...or to extol the progress of the state. Directions that, if followed, ...would result in crass, bombastic
or overly sentimental nonsense. And so began Shostakovichâs musical double dealings. An artistic tightrope walk that
became the stuff of legend. This aspect of his music began with his fifth symphony, ...which was accompanied with
the telling programme note: The music is certainly simpler and less
experimental than his previous music, ...part of an attempt to convince the Party
to stop vilifying him and banning his work. Since the 5th is so often discussed in detail elsewhere, ...Iâm not going to dwell on it too much here. One thing of interest to note about it though, ...is that it was considered a triumph both by the party, ...who felt it satisfied their aesthetic requirements, ...and the public, ...who largely saw it as an expression
of rage and sadness ...in the face of homegrown tyranny. Two almost diametrically opposed interpretations. This same duality of interpretation
can be seen in his 7th symphony, ...written in defiance of the ...siege of Leningrad. This is probably Shostakovichâs biggest
moment on the international stage. It was also propaganda gold for the 50á´ |á´á´ Union, ...so much so, that the ...devised plans to try and disrupt
its Leningrad premiere. Probably the only time military operations
were devised with classical music in mind. However, despite its clear function as an expression of ...resistance, ...again, many thought they also detected a critique of ...woven into its fabric. When interviewed about this symphony's meaning, ...Flora Litvinova, a friend and
neighbour of Shostakovich, ...said the following: But I think Shostakovichâs true
feelings about 50á´ |á´á´ rule and ...in particular ...can be seen most clearly in his 9th symphony, ...a work where his disobedience
and humour is on full display. The year was 1945. Germany was defeated, and ...delighted with the success of the 7th symphony, ...made it clear that he wanted the 9th symphony
to be a massive triumphant celebration. 9 is a powerful number when it comes to symphonies. Think of the grand 9thâs of ...Beethoven, ...Bruckner and ...Mahler. ...was aware of this lineage ...and wanted Shostakovichâs 9th to be even more 9th-y. Louder. Longer. Even more dramatic! This footage of the victory parade
at the Red Square in Moscow ...gives a sense of the kind of atmosphere
weâre talking about here. Doesnât exactly get the creative juices flowing, does it? Hey, Shosty! Make THIS! So, he was faced with a choice: Should he deliver the self-congratulatory,
disingenuous clunker that was being asked of him? Refusing would jeopardize his,
along with his familyâs safety, ...so he began writing. However, what he delivered was
something entirely unexpected. On the surface, it seems like the genuine article. But on closer inspection, ...itâs dripping with sarcasm and disobedience. First off, listen to the opening and ask yourself: Does this sound epic and heroic to you? No, it sounds chirpy and unconcerned. Not at all appropriate for the event. Letâs do a quick contrast here: And the more you listen, ...the more out-of-place things you notice. Thereâs one recurring phrase which
seems to promise a big martial moment: ...but instead just leads to this frivolous little tune: And this idea is used again later, ...where Shostakovich seems to be openly
easing the 50á´ |á´á´-faithful in the audience ...by constantly reusing that clumsy-sounding ...'bum buuuuum' ...over and over again. Itâs like the player, getting ahead of himself, ...keeps missing his cue. And then, finally, after six tries, ...he manages to land it in the right place: Shostakovichâs music is often
sprinkled with little jokes like this. Jokes that many interpreted as a comment about
the over-eagerness and crassness of the celebration, ...with the party-faithful tripping over themselves
to bleat their approval and shout patriotic slogans. One other thing Iâve always found
funny about this movement ...is the way he repeats the opening twice, ...harking back to the symphonies of Haydn. Itâs like a little wink just for composers, ...reusing a really outdated version
of the classical sonata form in, ...of all things, ...the opening of a modern 9th symphony. To me, it's like a secret note that says, âLook how hard Iâm trying.' Another thing I find funny about this piece is the key: Itâs in E-flat major. Uh... Just bear with me here. E-flat major was commonly
thought of as the most 'heroic' key, ...famously used in Beethovenâs Eroica Symphony. This seems more like a canny optics
manoeuvre rather than an artistic choice. Official authorities needed to rubber-stamp
the symphony before it could be performed, ...and the words âE-flat majorâ appearing on the score ...would have been seen as a sign that Shostakovich
was intending on being a good boy. In actuality, ...the âheroic' key is undermined right at the outset. ...with the opening phrase being punctuated ...by this silly-sounding G-flat chord: It at once transforms the effect into
something that sounds, well, ...just completely circus-y and silly. However, this time around, ...Shostakovichâs disobedience
was a little too obvious, and ...took it for what it was: A personal insult. And this event marked the beginning ...of another falling out of favour, ...culminating in his second denunciation ...along with Prokofiev and Khachaturian In 1948. Hereâs a video of the official reprimand, ...where we can see him ...pathetically clapping along with
his name dragged through the mud. After this event, ...he was, again, marked as an âenemy of the peopleâ ...and fired from his teaching positions. He would eventually manage to find
his way out of this predicament, ...helped in no small part by ...death in 1953. But this video is more about his
musical voice than his biography, ...so Iâll leave it at that. In the description, Iâve made
a few book recommendations ...for those who're interested in learning more. Just a quick note before we go any further: I personally prefer Shostakovichâs
chamber music to his orchestral works. One of the reasons for this, I think, ...is that his chamber works were considered
less consequential by the official authorities, ...and were probably not scrutinised as closely. And for this reason, they feel freer and sharper to me. One thing I love particularly in his string quartets ...is how heâs able to generate so much
music out of very sparse material. For example, ...the last movement of his 9th string quartet
features these two contrasting motifs: âŚhe then goes on to reuse these
with remarkable efficiency: The 9th quartet also features one of my
favourite moments of pure musical rawness: This sound is characteristic of
much of his chamber music, ...which has a lack of frills that I find appealing, ...partly because it resembles the spirit of
the punk music that I loved growing up. The music is completely exposed, ...not buried behind any auditory tricks. And yet this rawness is a quality that many
of his symphonies don't seem to have, ...probably due to their highly political nature. Iâve often found this a little disappointing, ...because itâs his symphonic work thatâs
most often presented to the public. And while weâre here, I should
probably point out that typical ...rhythm that he uses all the time: If you keep a lookout, youâll find this
rhythm popping up all over the place. Another notable feature of his music ...is his keen sense of the grotesque. I think it's best represented by the
final movement of his 2nd piano trio, ...one of the pieces that made
me want to be a composer, ...which presents a ghastly, twisted version
of a traditional Jewish wedding dance: Listening to this main theme, ...itâs not hard to identify the use
of the altered Dorian mode, ...which is also called 'Mi Shebeirach' ...in the traditional Jewish music known as I also noticed a flattened 2nd later in this theme, ...which is in keeping with another
commonly used mode in Klezmer: The altered Phrygian. This offers us another example of potential
double meaning in Shostakovichâs music. Written in 1944, ...it was dedicated to his closest friend, Ivan Sollertinsky, ...who died that same year. The fact that Sollertinsky was Jewish ...offers one clue towards understanding
the nature of this final movement. But apart from that, ...since rumours of ...were beginning to reach the 50á´ |á´á´ Union, ...itâs entirely possible that Shostakovich
was making a wider statement about ...both abroad, and also at home, under This isnât the only time he incorporated
obvious Klezmer elements into his work. And considering the times he lived in, ...where Jewish culture was heavily suppressed, ...itâs hard to read it as anything other
than a protest against 50á´ |á´á´ misrule, ...as well as a show of solidarity with the Jewish people. Another celebrated aspect of Shostakovichâs music ...is his constant use of quotation, ...which almost seems like his second language, ...used to communicate all manner
of emotions and ideas. One that often baffles people ...is his fascination with the gallop
theme from Rossiniâs 'William Tell': Here it is in his 15th symphony: And returning back to his 9th quartet, ...which is my personal favourite quartet by the way, ...here it is again: Another repeated motif you'll find used a lot in his music ...is his now-famous signature: D, E-flat, C, and B. Or to use the pronunciation of German notation: The most famous use of this signature
is in his 8th string quartet, ...which is also a great example of his ability to
efficiently create music from very little material: And in the 8th quartet there're
no lack of quotations either, ...although in this case, heâs quoting himself. Right away, you can hear a
quote from his 1st symphony: ...and later on, the warped Jewish wedding music
we just heard from his 2nd piano trio: And then there's quotes from his
5th, 10th and 11th symphonies, ...as well as a reference to Lady Macbeth. Why did he do this? One explanation is that the piece was written
during a moment of intense personal turmoil, ...and that there are some signs
in his surviving correspondence ...that he was actually intending to kill himself. And in this context, ...the 8th quartet paints a very bleak picture ...of a composer reflecting on his greatest
achievements just before death. Towards the end of his life, ...his music enters into its âlate periodâ, ...which is often so bleak, ...I sometimes find it difficult to listen to. In his last 15 years, ...he lived in constant pain, ...and you can hear his fear of death and
pessimism taking over in his music, ...especially in his final quartets. Then after his death in 1975, ...Shostakovichâs music became
mired in contrary opinions. Official 50á´ |á´á´ representatives decided
to ignore previous denunciations ...and held up his work as a shining
example of 50á´ |á´á´ genius, ...whereas in the West, ...the press were happy to characterize
him as a sort of weird ideologue. In their obituary, ...the New York Times noted: Yeah. You really nailed it with that description, guys. And thereâs also a lot of bitter disagreement
between biographers and musicologists too. The book ...which was presented as a signed set of pages
documenting the actual words of Shostakovich ...caused a sensation when
it was released after his death, ...and still heavily influences how we
in the West interpret his work today. However, ...serious suspicion about the
authenticity of 'Testimony' emerged ...after numerous academics and
close family members cried foul. Many of the lines supposedly
recorded during interviews ...were plagiarised word for word
from previously published articles. And Shostakovichâs signature, ...the sole proof of its authenticity, ...only appears on 8 pages, ...and those pages contain fairly
mundane, uncontroversial material. This has begun a war between those who back the book ...and those who want to see it completely discredited. Sadly, it does appear that the
anti-50á´ |á´á´ bias of the Western press ...led to âTestimonyâ being readily accepted. This is a pity because its general presentation
of Shostakovichâs dislike of 50á´ |á´á´ rule ...have been largely corroborated
by those who knew him best. But since the author took so many shortcuts, ...we just donât know which quotes
are true and which are fabrications. And what weâre left with is endless speculation
about the true meaning of his work, ...from the 5th symphony onwards, ...and his use of coded language
continues to fascinate academics today. However, just to put my own cards on the table here: Regardless of which stories and
interpretations are overblown, ...I feel we've enough surviving correspondence, ...factual material, and interviews
with those who knew him ...to get a good idea of where
his general sympathies lay, ...and the version of him Iâve presented
here is the one I have the most faith in. I mean, ...twice denounced him ...and also killed a whole bunch
of his friends and family. He was hardly going to love the guy. So, to answer those who criticise Shostakovich ...because he didnât author some
new technique like serialism, ...I hope Iâve successfully made the case that
he deserves a place among the great pioneers, ...due to his legacy of overcoming
ludicrous artistic repression ...and connecting with listeners through
a mixture of intricate musical messages ...and sheer raw talent. And even if you donât buy that response ...or if you think his music was nothing
more than safe, easy listening, ...one thing that canât be denied ...is that his voice is among the most
easily identifiable in all classical music. No one else sounds like him, ...and that alone is probably the highest
praise you can give a composer.
fucking hell
I think this is pretty sad. The video is clearly an honest attempt to tell a historical story well. There's no malice in it at all.
Saw the original video, can't believe it was taken down - he should create a video called 'How to compose with YouTube watching'
I saw this the first time. How unfair.
Come on YouTube! What's the problem here?
Hadn't seen this. I do wonder to myself how the first video must have felt without all the bleeps. Hope he manages to reclaim those lost views.
Hypocrisy
Anyone know why the video got taken down the first time?