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Was Dmitri Shostakovich The Last Of The Best Known Great Composers?

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The poll choices are to few and unconsidered, the truth (if there are one) is an amalgam.
Dmitri might have agreed. "For some reason, people think that music must tell us only about the pinnacles of the human spirit, or at least about highly romantic villains. But there are very few heroes or villains. Most people are average, neither black nor white. They're gray. A dirty shade of gray."
 
How well known is Shostakovich? I think if I mentioned his name at the office, most wouldn't have heard of him. More would have heard of Philip Glass.
In my (ex) office most would have asked what football team did he play for.
 
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Oh look, the self-gratification polls are back :rolleyes:
...a pithier true statement this board has not seen. It would be less pithy to include self-justification of (a somewhat infamously limited) personal taste, but I suppose that is inherent in "self-gratification."

RE: the OP, "Was Dmitri Shostakovich The Last Of The Best Known Great Composers?"

NOT!
 
Shostakovich is a great composer but how can one dismiss Messiaen and Ligeti among others?

I am truly amazed at Ligeti's genius embedded in every single piece of music he composed. He died just eight years ago and I am sure he will be remembered for a long time as a truly great modern composer.

Dismissal of other composers with a blanket refusal to acknowledge other forms and styles of music is wrong in my books.
 
Shostakovich is a great composer but how can one dismiss Messiaen and Ligeti among others?
Add to that: Schoenberg, Webern, Berg, Carter, Partch, Stockhausen, Xenakis, Pettersson, and the 'Vulture' himself, Stravinsky. In such formidable company, Shostakovich can't be considered a great anything -- at least not in the field of music.
 
John Williams is far more well known than Shostakovich, and yet Shostakovich is better.

Hmm, maybe popularity has nothing to do with quality. Could it be?
 
Discussion starter · #29 ·
Considering the balance between the political circumstances of Shostakovich and his music, compared with other composers mentioned in this thread so far, I think Dimitri has an edge over the others. I mean he wasn't a free artist compared with the others, politically and even socially. He crafted his music allowing for all the perceptions that were around him ready to fire at him musically and maybe even personally.
 
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John Williams is far more well known than Shostakovich, and yet Shostakovich is better.

Hmm, maybe popularity has nothing to do with quality. Could it be?
I agree with the sentiment of your post, but surely you cannot simply say that Shostakovich is 'better' than Williams? As we know, some hate Shostakovich, others hate Williams. You say that Shostakovich is better as if it was simply a universally accepted fact, like "France is in Europe!", or something like that.
From what I have heard of their music, both are very good composers.
 
I agree with the sentiment of your post, but surely you cannot simply say that Shostakovich is 'better' than Williams? As we know, some hate Shostakovich, others hate Williams. You say that Shostakovich is better as if it was simply a universally accepted fact, like "France is in Europe!", or something like that.
From what I have heard of their music, both are very good composers.
Well, in general, you are correct that it's a bit of a bold statement to make. However, given the verifiable fact that a disgusting portion of Williams' most famous tunes are direct plagiarism, I don't think my statement was inappropriate.
 
Well, in general, you are correct that it's a bit of a bold statement to make. However, given the verifiable fact that a disgusting portion of Williams' most famous tunes are direct plagiarism, I don't think my statement was inappropriate.
I've done a little research on this... and you're absolutely correct. Sorry.
 
Considering the balance between the political circumstances of Shostakovich and his music, compared with other composers mentioned in this thread so far, I think Dimitri has an edge over the others. I mean he wasn't a free artist compared with the others, politically and even socially. He crafted his music allowing for all the perceptions that were around him ready to fire at him musically and maybe even personally.
Every composer in the USSR including the Eastern Bloc around that time were under the same conditions, Gubaidulina, Ligeti, Schnittke i.e. other composers that have been mentioned that were younger than Shostakovich.
 
Considering the balance between the political circumstances of Shostakovich and his music, compared with other composers mentioned in this thread so far, I think Dimitri has an edge over the others. I mean he wasn't a free artist compared with the others, politically and even socially. He crafted his music allowing for all the perceptions that were around him ready to fire at him musically and maybe even personally.
Yeah, Messiaen wrote one of his major works in a concentration camp and all, but I think you've got us cornered on this one.
 
Messiaen was drafted into the French army, captured, and interned in a German POW camp. By all accounts the guards were attentive to his music but doubtless argued about if afterward.
I was addressing the "Dmitri has an edge over the others because the others were all 'free artists'" comment. Read my comment in context of what I quoted. Absurd, huh?
 
Considering the balance between the political circumstances of Shostakovich and his music, compared with other composers mentioned in this thread so far, I think Dimitri has an edge over the others. I mean he wasn't a free artist compared with the others, politically and even socially. He crafted his music allowing for all the perceptions that were around him ready to fire at him musically and maybe even personally.
To return to a conversation we were having before you went on "holiday":

When your poll results agree with you you say that "proves" something. As this poll appears to be going well against your opinion will you take that equally as some form of proof? More importantly: how will you process this conflicting "proof"?

Also: when did you start liking Shostakovich, a mid C20 composer? Will you follow up on the conversation in this thread by listening to some Schnittke and Ligeti ang Gubaidulina? Will you be willing to concede now that Messiaen might deserve more than the one listen you've given him and try again?
 
I don't personally consider Shostakovich one of "the great composers", but even barring that, both Messiaen and Ligeti, who died more recently, are quite popular and frequently discussed.

The problem with this question is that people's definitions of what constitutes a "great composer" differ widely, as do their qualifications for being considered "one of the great composers".
What do you mean by great composer? Shostakovich isn't up there with Mozart or even Stravinsky, but he was no slouch, and I wouldn't put the other two you listed in the same league as Mozart or Stravinsky either. Shostakovich is a more versatile composer than Messiaen or Ligeti, if not as radical by a long shot. Anyways, this is another one of those silly threads, what's the point of putting Shostakovich "in his place" when its just as violadude said?
 
What do you think, ArtMusic, of Boulez calling Shostakovitch's symphonic output as "third pressing Mahler" (like over-pressed olive oil, each pressing renders less and less quality)?
 
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