Dmitri Shostakovich in Russia - 1928
from Testimony- The memoirs of Shostakovich, as related to & edited by Solomon Volkov, pages 178-179:
I suppose I can spend some time talking about the ‘Mussorgsky orchestra’ [in Boris Godunov]. We must assume that his orchestral ‘intentions’ were correct, but he simply couldn’t realize them. He wanted a sensitive and flexible orchestra. As far as I can tell, he imagined something like a singing line around the vocal parts, the way subvoices surround the main melodic line in Russian folk song. But Mussorgsky lacked the technique for that. What a shame! Obviously, he had purely orchestral imagination, and purely orchestral imagery as well. The music strives for ‘new shores’ as … more >>
cite as
Dmitri Shostakovich, and Soloman Volkov (ed.), Testimony- The memoirs of Shostakovich, as related to & edited by Solomon Volkov (London, 1979), p. 178-179. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1431348289890 accessed: 4 December, 2024
Listeners
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Boris Godunov
written by Modest Mussorgsky |
Experience Information
Date/Time | 1928 |
Medium | live |
Listening Environment | indoors, in public |
Originally submitted by verafonte on Mon, 11 May 2015 13:44:50 +0100
Approved on Wed, 18 Nov 2015 13:21:54 +0000