Bernard Chasan <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >I am a great admirerer of this composer's work. It is indeed expressive >of the twentieth century in ways that are not always easy to pin down, It >is gloriously messy music, and I can understand Charles Rosen's comment >that Shostakovich wrote noise pollution or some such, although I think >that Rosen is wrong, and probably would say the same of Mahler. Where did Rosen say this about DSCH? I also recently became aware of similar comments by Boulez (I think he called DSCH a third-rate Mahler). Has Shostakovich-bashing become some sort of ideological slogan of the Boulez-Rosen camp? How disappointing... >S's relationship to the totalitarian government is complex, controversial >and open to more than one interpretation. But does it really matter [other >than] as a matter of cultural history and the interaction between music >and society? Indeed it doesn't, and I for one am sick of hearing the autobiography of DSCH associated with every damn thing he wrote; the same old pseudo-historical drivel shoved down our throats in concert notes, CD liner notes, radio shows, newspaper articles,... it's almost like a Stalinist conspiracy:) Ulvi [log in to unmask]