How Shostakovich Wrote His String Quartet No. 8, Part 1: Movement 1 (Composition Analysis)
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- čas přidán 1. 11. 2021
- This is the first video of my new "How They Wrote" series! I'll be taking a look at some of the things that developing composers can learn from various scores in the repertoire and walking through those in each video.
I realize that some of the commentary is a little long-winded in this first one, I'm still getting the hang of how much I need to say about each item and what the best way to convey it is, but hopefully it is still helpful nonetheless!
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This recording is of a performance of this piece by the Altius Quartet. - Hudba
oh nice! this is a great explanation of the work behind my music
he wrote it with a pencil and paper dummy
I really like this style of video, can't wait to see the rest of the movements and other pieces!
Mm I’m pretty sure he used Finale 2014.5, but you can fact check that at hilaryclinton.com
I’m glad you enjoyed it and I appreciate you watching as always! I think I will put out polls occasionally for what pieces ppl wanna see, so look out for those cuz I’d love to have your input :-)
Shostakovich was able to write extremely complex orchestral music right onto the score, without playing it on the piano or anything else. Pure, pure genius
First time I heard part of this first movement, was in the BBC’s “TRAFFIK”. It was used in sad and tragic, semi hopeless moments regarding addiction, and the opium/heroin trade between The UK, Germany, and Pakistan. Really a great choice. Been a fan of this piece ever since.
Great video! What a devastatingly powerful piece this is. Humanity in all its frailty, its capacity for suffering, its witness to horror, is here in every note.
Great analysis. One thing I would have mentioned is the fact that the repeated low Cs in the Cello and Viola which he uses extensively throughout the movement are the lowest strings of the respective instruments, which means you cannot apply vibrato to them, which has huge implications on the tone colour. It creates a very bleak and eerie atmosphere.
This is a GREAT point. Definitely a huge difference in timbre on the open strings. I do wonder if that was part of his consideration when choosing the key. I imagine it was mostly motivated by the (almost) implied key of DSCH, but I imagine there's a good chance that allowing the tonic to be voiced in such a particular way throughout the group could've played a role there. Also interesting how that plays into works that are in C major, thinking specifically of the second Britten quartet.
Great point....
I'm writing a term paper on this piece, thank you so much!
Good luck!! Happy to help :)
Super interesting. And one of my favorite quartets😍
I'm glad you enjoyed it; thank you for watching! It's one of my faves as well :)
Very insightful and deep analysis! Makes me love this piece even more. I can’t wait to watch the rest of the videos on it!
Excellent breakdown. Thank you
No fair, Shosty!! How am I supposed to base a signature on LJHB? Random boop boop boop ... then a 'B'?!
Thaaaaank you for 15:15 . I find ways to complicate things to heck without considering that less is sometimes more, and it's purely a factor driven by guilt into working too hard.
Something you might consider is just putting it on a loop, so just once you get to H, that’s actually back to A, I = B, J = C, and so forth. So you could do E C A B. Maybe over a nice Cmaj7 chord? 😁
@@JordanMHollowayComposer Dang, he actually comes up with real solutions. 👀
Should I admit to dropping everything I was doing and heading to the keyboard? 😂
This is fantastic. Thank you!
great video!!
Great understanding now I know how to make my Motif better and I just really understand everything
Amazing!!! Thanx!!!!
I'm glad you enjoyed, thanks so much for watching!
@@JordanMHollowayComposer My pleasure! Really! Have been deeply inspired by that piece, especially the first movement... So exiting to hear your thoughts about it!
Just started watching this series, I’m really enjoying this so far! I’m surprised this doesn’t have more views. You mentioned you wrote a symphony, is there any where I can find it to listen to? ❤❤
thats some quality shit. ov yeah. (please make these videos coming)
Absolutely will do!! :-) Movement 2 should be out in about a week, thanks a lot for watching!!
Very interesting video! I want to ask you something. Is there any method of analaysing a score? Are there any steps? How to analyse a score?
Very nice! Will you do all the other movements?
I’m planning on it so far! :-) thanks for watching!
@@JordanMHollowayComposer looking forward to the second movement! The Emerson Quartet has a good version of it.
this piece is agony such that i can no longer bear to hear it . when i was tormented as he was, as a 20 something now 40 years ago i gorged on his stuff. but now. i do not need the temptation to open my veins that he offers.
such agony and yet it is built on his own name,.
surely this is apposite - namely that self preoccupation is the royal road to misery.
am i the only person to think that if as a happy man he never composed a note that such would have been better for ALL???
You forgot to mention many of the quotes of his own music from the prior pieces, it explains the sudden new short music motives. Otherwise I like the analysis, thank you!
10:46 SUS
IMA SUSSY BAJA?? BAJA BLAST"??""""""""'
It's a tragic misunderstanding that the reason this piece is dark and tragic is because of Hitler/National Socialism. He wrote it because of the horrific crimes of the firebombing of Dresden which allied forces committed.
Hitler? You mean Stalin?
This piece is DSCH. It's his defining piece for his life