Composers can be Harsh Critics
Tue, Oct 30 2012, 6:48PM
#2
RE: Composers can be Harsh Critics
A couple of interesting snippets from Shostakovitch on other composers, from Testimony....
What's the general consensus about "Testimony" these days? Do people accept that it is a genuine expression of DDS's opinions, or a clever work of fiction, or something in between?
Tue, Oct 30 2012, 7:29PM
#3
RE: Composers can be Harsh Critics
Hi Bazza!
I'm not totally sure is the honest answer and don't lay claim to omni-familiarity with all the arguments. I think it is still considered controversial for several reasons - his widow Irina said that Volkov only met her husband a few times and not enough to write the book, and there is a view that chunks of the material were re-productions of articles written throughout his life by Shostakovitch, and that other passages were created by Volkov from pages of notes he claimed to have made during exchanges with the composer. If the composer only made brief answers to some questions as Volkov says then some critics argue how come the author managed to attribute such lengthy passages to the composer. This fuels the argument that some creative accountancy went on during the writing of the book...
The only thing I would say is that as I once mentioned on another thread, I saw the feature film (starring Ben Kingsley) in the West End when it came out (late 80's when I was working in London) and thought it was a fantastic film, as to me it really captured the fear that Shostakovitch and Prokofiev lived through working under the Stalin regime. I read the book later. And again a few months ago.
The book is a fascinating read, but how authentic...? As you say, maybe it is an in-betweener! I have to confess I really do like the comments about fellow students, tutors, and composers. It is not always disparaging - there is great warmth expressed about Glazunov for example.
Mark
Wed, Oct 31 2012, 11:02AM
#4
RE: Composers can be Harsh Critics
I completely understand why composers are harsh critics - everybody expects them to produce perfection with every piece they wrote. It is just like clockworks - all the tiny gear wheels have to perfectly fit in one another to make it work - otherwise it would not have any sense to produce them. Artists are human beings and they can only grow with the help of constructive critique. You might think this methaphor is weird, but I am a huge collector of pilot watches and I am always stunned about their perfection.
Naupilus, taking most of the "negative" comments including the very pertinent ones by Chriswalden and BWells, I was referring to this sort of unfair criticism which can be only misleading, albeit very useful as "reading material" and to show us the various aspects of the character of the subject of the criticism.
By all means, there are quite a few exceptions where composers reject others in order to "justify" their own voices. This can be informative, enlightening and refreshing. However, comments, almost given in abstracto and entirely arbitrarily, cannot constitute anything towards "fighting over the soul of music".
Parla