Shostakovich Symphonies and Concertos An Owner's Manual. Unlocking the Masters Series Unlocking the Masters

Customer Reviews

An excellent introduction to Shostakovich's major orchestral works

2007-01-10
I believe that as his work becomes better-known, Shostakovich will be universally regarded as the composer who in the post World War I era of the 20th century has contibuted than any other to the expansion of the standard classical music repertory. Hurwitz'z book is an excellent, jargon-free introduction to his 15 symphonies and 6 concertos. Written with the general reader, it has interesting insights on virtually all the works covered, even on those few symphonies, such as the 12th, which are usually dismissed as substandard hackwork. He is well aware of the already massive Shostakovich literature, including the controversial "Testimony" by Solomon Volkov, but he is not afraid to form his own opinions which may or may not be contrary to received knowledge. Heartily recommended to all classical music lovers.

'Popular' treatment

2006-11-11
Boy, do I ever hate being the ant at the picnic. But somebody has to say something. This is both useful and of little use simultaneously. That is, it is a well-written, conversational excursion through the repertoire that will be illuminating to many music-lovers. But at the same time it will teach them almost nothing.

Here is the problem: this book, like so many books on music written recently, takes the position that it would be the kiss of death to actually include a single musical example. To which many might say, yahoo! But if you resolutely avoid any use of musical notation, or even musical terms, in talking about music in a detailed fashion, then you find yourself having to say things like "and now the bippity-boop theme returns, this time on the flute." And I'm only slightly exaggerating. Imagine several pages about a work that uses a characteristic rhythm throughout in which the only way the author can refer to this rhythm is as 'The Rhythm'. Imagine if we have two themes and instead of describing one as being repeated eighth notes on D and the other as being rising fourths he has to refer to them as "the droney theme" and "the leapy theme". (These names are made up.) This is to reduce discussion of music to baby talk. And when the subject is large symphonic works, that seems particularly incongruous.

But I suspect that the author is not as much to blame as might be thought. He is after all, not starting a trend, but merely extending it. Apparently no-one, not even music-lovers, actually learns to read music any more. And also, apparently, if you want to actually, y'know, sell your book on music it must not contain any actual music.

But it's still baby-talk.

Music review

2006-07-09
I found this most interesting and easy to read. Hurwitz has whimsical style that makes it easy to be informed and entertained. His works should make good textbooks for music students of the current generation.

Especially recommended for music students and classical music lovers everywhere

2006-07-04
David Hurwitz, founder and editor of respected daily classical music magazine Classicstoday.com, presents Shostakovich Symphonies And Concertos: An Owner's Manual, an in-depth discussion of Shostakovich's grand musical creations. Offering much more than a technical analysis, Shostakovich Symphonies And Concertos also discusses at length what the music sounds like and how it works expressively. Featuring scrutiny of fifteen symphonies and six concertos in chronological order, Shostakovich Symphonies And Concertos provides a marvelous guided tour of the unfolding melodies as well as an overview of how Shostakovich's works fit into Western classical musical tradition. An accompanying full-length music CD contains a performance of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony, which accurately showcases his style. Especially recommended for music students and classical music lovers everywhere.

A Guide to Listening to Shostakovich

2006-06-19
Born in 1906 Shostakovich lived through the communist years in the Soviet Union. This book covers Shostakovich from his first symphony, completed when he was 19 through his next 14 symphonies and six concertos. It has relatively little in the way of biography, but instead is about his music.

Each major work is given a chapter of its own, and like the Owner's Manual of an automobile it describes the feelings generated by that work.

Mr. Hurwitz is perhaps the foremost writer working today in the field of classical music. He founded and is the executive editor of ClassicsToday.com a daily clasical music magazine, and is the chairman and founder of the Clkasical Internet Awards. He is the author of similar books on Wagner, Mozart, Mahler, Dvorak, and Haydn. The book includes an audio CD of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony, easily his most famous.

enhance your listening experience

2006-05-13
The fall of the Soviet empire has not diminished the popularity of Dmitri Shostakovich's great symphonies and concertos one bit, despite the fact that most literature on him neglects any substantive discussion of the music itself in favor of biographical speculation on the relationship between the composer and the political climate of the day. This is the first book to provide a detailed, descriptive analysis of the 21 symphonies and concertos, work by work, explaining not just why they are significant documents of their time and place, but why they are great music in general. This offers readers an understanding of why Shostakovich's music enjoys the enduring support of performers and listeners alike, and how it fits into the great tradition of Western classical music generally.