Contextual Critiques

 Shostakovich's 10th Symphony is as spectacular and significant as his 5th. He wrote the 5th to save his life, but the 10th was written in 1953, just a few months after Stalin's death, and hence the symphony is in a tone of cautious relief and enjoyment. (As an aside, this composition timeline is according to Shostakovich, but various sources do indicate the symphony being written in 1951.) It was premiered in Moscow in December 1953 by Mravinsky. This symphony is nothing less than the confrontation between the artist and the hated dictator.  1st Movement - Taking around 28 minutes to be performed, this is almost half as long as the entire symphony! The movement is in sonata form and has parts A,B, and A, where A is the exposition, and B is the development. The exposition has three main themes. The opening of the symphony employs the typical Russian strategy of playing a slow, meditative melody on the cello and strings. This is the 1st theme, and it imitates a choir singing ...

 Although he was professionally a chemist, Borodin's extensive output as a composer placed him among Russia's Big Five, which also included Korsakov, Balakirev, Cui, and Mussorgsky. He was a romantic composer who turned to music as a means of relaxation from his scientific work, yet he nonetheless demonstrated his virtuosity through his compositions. I would focus on three wonderful pieces today. In the Steppes of Central Asia - In 1880, Czar Alexander II was to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his reign, and had commissioned Borodin to write the background music for a Tableau Vivant. (A tableau vivant is an outdated art form where actors would be arranged on a stage and assume poses depicting a certain scene, with music playing in the background, and they would be lit up artistically! The art form resembled a painting, and one of its approximate modern-day analogues is the concept of living statues.) But due to an assassination attempt on the Czar, the production was cancell...