John White wrote:
>Last night I witnessed a spirited performance of Shostakovich's 15th and
>last completed symphony given by our local band, the Isle of Wight Symphony
>Orchestra, under their conductor, Jonathan Butcher.
>
>The only bit in it that passed my "Whistle Test" (see my recent post), was
>the quotation from Rossini's William Tell. That got me thinking that maybe
>Dmitri was getting past his "best before" date when he wrote this work.
My disseration was a set of variations on that wonderful theme from the
last movement, measures 14 to 35. I so moved by the rather nostalgic
beauty of it.
To my ears, his 15th quartet is right up there with the late quartets of
Beethoven.
>I shall stick my neck right now and say that IMHO Shostakovich was at his
>best as a symphonist in his middle period works.say in Nos. 5 to 10, and
>that thereafter, although probably still the greatest symphonist of his
>time, his inspiration diminished.
I will agree that I don't care much for the 12th, but 13, 14, and 15 are,
to my ears, magnificent. I also find the 1st and 4th more to my liking
than the 5th. The 10th is another highpoint.
>Both Spohr (who withdrew his 10th symphony from performance*) and Sibelius
>(who destroyed his 8th symphony) apparently new when to stop.
While I don't know the story about Spohr, I would guess that booze stopped
Sibelius from an 8th Symphony.
>On the other hand, Mozart Beethoven and Schubert Were lucky (or unlucky)
>enough to die while they were, IMHO, still at the height of their symphonic
>powers.
There are some composers who, late in life, write music that I find less
up to the quality of their earlier works. While I never heard the entire
Harris 14th, I did hear some of the choral rehearsals. That was enough for
me. Yet I find his 11th to be a fine work. Piston's 7th and 8th are, for
me, works of genius. I feel Hovhaness said about all he had to say by the
time of his 16th Symphony...yet he kept saying it so beautifully.
>What do other list members think on this subject, or have I just written
>a load of rubbish.
One person's rubbish is another's treasure.
Karl (who continues to frequent thrift stores)
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