(no subject)

[violachic]

If I were a Dead Russian Composer, I would be Dmitri Shostakovich! I am a shy, nervous, unassuming, fidgety, and stuttery little person who began composing the same year I started music lessons of any sort. I wrote the first of my fifteen symphonies at age 18, and my second opera, "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District," when I was only 26. Unfortunately, Stalin hated the opera, and put me on the Enemy Of The People List for life. I nevertheless kept composing the works I wanted to write in private; some of my vocal cycles and 15 string quartets mock the Soviet System in notes. And I somehow was NOT killed in the process! And Harry Potter(c) stole my glasses and broke them! Who would you be? Dead Russian Composer Personality Test

Comments

[orpheus42.livejournal.com]

NICE.

[themiddlestates.livejournal.com]

My personality clearly shares much in common with that of Sergei Rakhmaninov, but don't you think I look a little like Dmitri Shostakovich? Maybe just a little?

[violachic.livejournal.com]

You know- come to think of it, the resemblance IS kind eerie.. Be careful, I might start calling you Dmitri.

[themiddlestates.livejournal.com]

Maybe I will go as him for halloween. The costume looks kind of expensive, though.

[violachic.livejournal.com]

That would be a hell of a toupee.

[spuzbal.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine is fond of saying that Shostakovich looked like "an emo Harry Potter," which I've always found kind of amusing.

[violachic.livejournal.com]

But oh so true :-)

[orpheus42.livejournal.com]

Between you and me, we got my two favorites (though I like a lot of them).

LOL at "emo Harry Potter".

[violachic.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm a big fan of pretty much the whole "radical romantic" set, Russian or no. I did have a cat once, who now lives with my sister and her husband, who I named after Rachmaninoff. Shostakovich was so damned subversive, though. He is one of the few composers ever to write a whole sarcastic symphony.

[orpheus42.livejournal.com]

And he didn't get killed for it. Which is amazing. And it's a great piece. A lot of people I know really like it, but they don't get it. It's even better when you hear it with the composer's own quotes in mind, such as:

"It is as if someone is beating you with a stick and telling you 'You're celebrating!' over and over again. Eventually, you walk away muttering 'Yes, I'm celebrating.'"

Emo Harry Potter or not, the guy had some serious cojones.

[violachic.livejournal.com]

In fact, that's exactly what playing the last ten minutes of the symphony is like.... the violas play this tremolo "A" for about a zillion measures, at like fffff.....

[orpheus42.livejournal.com]

It echoes in the upper woodwinds. I've never played it with an orchestra but I read excerpts of the clarinet parts once for an audition.

It's so wild. After hearing that statement for the first time, the next time I heard the piece I felt physical pain as if someone were beating me. I have an overactive imagination.

[violachic.livejournal.com]

Nah, you're just communicating with the music :-) Besides, I know plenty of people who claim Shostakovich causes them physical pain ;-)



You know, if this comment thread goes on long enough, I could actually stand a chance of using each of my user icons at least once....

[orpheus42.livejournal.com]

Playing Shostakovich, or listening?

Hmm... that sounds like a worthy goal.

[violachic.livejournal.com]

Either :-P


I have 45 icons....

[orpheus42.livejournal.com]

Might take awhile, then.

I'm thinking it might be feasible for me to try to go on a CPT delegation in 2009.

[violachic.livejournal.com]

You totally should. I'll even probably be back on speaking terms with them by then.

Man, I want to go to Colombia so bad!

[orpheus42.livejournal.com]

Colombia would be a good place to go. I want to go to Palestine, though I want to go everywhere else too.

[violachic.livejournal.com]

When you're there, see if you can locate the piece of my soul I left there, will ya?

[orpheus42.livejournal.com]

If I see it wandering around I'll tell you.

[violachic.livejournal.com]

Prokofiev did too- funnily enough, they're both the 5th....

[sabotabby]

I <3 Shostakovich and had no idea he looked so cool.

[a-nightengale.livejournal.com]

I got Stravinsky...

[j00j.livejournal.com]

Excellent. I'm Stravinsky, apparently. Just as long as it's not Tchaikovsky... Performing the Nutcracker Ballet on Ice several years in a row when I was young kind of put me off Tchaikovsky. Seriously, I counted it up once, and I've heard the whole thing through >30 times and the pieces I skated to... a lot more than that.

[violachic.livejournal.com]

I got sick real quick, when I was younger, of the orchestral suites, but there's some relatively unknown parts in the middle of the ballet that are pretty amazing. But yeah- I think a lot of people would deal much better with Tchaik if it weren't for the Nutbuster.

[ironheadjane.livejournal.com]

Crazy, I'm Shostakovich too.

[violachic.livejournal.com]

shocked I am

[simienwolf.livejournal.com]

If I were a Dead Russian Composer, I would be Igor Stravinsky. Known as a true son of the new 20th Century, my music started out melodic and folky but slowly got more dissonant and bizzare as I aged. I am a traveler and a neat freak, and very much hated those rotten eggs thrown at me after the premiere of "The Rite of Spring." Who would you be? Dead Russian Composer Personality Test

We look like twins.

[violachic.livejournal.com]

There's those Harry Potter glasses again!