Posted by Jay Bertolet on February 15, 2001 at 09:16:59:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Shostakovich's 5th - Triumph or Tragedy? posted by Richard on February 15, 2001 at 08:08:07:
This is a very good and basic point in our business. Is your concept (as a musician) of playing to always make people happy with your art? I firmly believe that for music to be effective, it has to be affective. The emotions conjured up for the listener are not always pleasant. Nor are they supposed to be. If you know anything about the history of Shostakovich or the 5th Symphony, you know that the composer was making a political statement, loud and clear. Especially the ending is a total mockery of the government of the Soviet Union and all it stood for. Shostakovich, like many Russian artists of that time, were completely repressed by the government. Can you imagine being an artist, whose job it is to elicit emotional responses from your audience, but not being allowed to say what you want/need to because some bureaucrat says it is inappropriate? It would be like telling Michelangelo that he could only use certain colors to paint the Sistine Chapel because the others were somehow not worthy or sent the wrong message. Predictably, Shostakovich was unhappy with this arrangement but, like in many oppressive forms of government, he wasn't even allowed the freedom to express his dislike of the situation. So he chose the one avenue of expression open to him, one that he could disguise such that even those who would silence the message would not recognize the message for what it truly was.
So it comes down to what you as an artist wish to do when you play a piece of music. Do you wish to interpret the music to say what you want to say or what the composer was saying? Your answer on that question will probably be in line with how you prefer to see the finale of the 5th being played. For my part I always have a hard time not respecting the composer's wishes, especially in such an emotionally charged and highly personal work as this symphony, so I always prefer the slower and more mocking interpretation the composer intended.
I'm sure it will be said by some that this is art, afterall, and that people should have their art the way they want it. To a certain extent, that is true because they are paying for it. But it seems to me that all would be better served by not trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. If the emotions expressed by Shostakovich aren't palatable to the listener, maybe choosing another piece to listen to is in order. Everybody has a right to choose the entertainment they desire. I think that as performers, it is incumbent upon us to make our art as affective as possible, to move our audience as much as possible so that they can truly experience what the music is saying.
My opinion for what it's worth...