Shostakovich & Psycho

What do we know about Dmitri Shostakovich's String Quartet No.3? Yes, it’s beautiful, emotionally charged and enigmatic. What else?

Dmitry Shostakovich

Dedicated to Beethoven Quartet, it was premiered by it in 1946. It was a difficult time for all artists, including composers, as the Soviet censorship machine was especially severe in the post-war years when the cold war in full play. Thus Shostakovich’s 9th Symphony that preceded the quartet was badly censored and banned too, just like the numerous work pf art in that period. The quartet, too, was banned from public stage shortly after its premiere.

In order to avoid the formalism, Shostakovich gave different names to the non-traditional 5 movements of the work on its premiere. They carried a war-descriptive character and made a little ‘story’ of the war time. The names were withdrawn soon in fear of the above-mentioned censorship, which still didn’t help the work ‘to survive’ the rules of the regime.

The String Quartet was perhaps the only composition among his works that fascinated Shostakovich so much. On attending the private rehearsal of Beethoven’s Quartet a few years after, composer was supposed to make remarks concerning the performance. The Third Quartet was the only work that he didn’t stop but asked to keep playing, listening to it defenceless, with tears in his eyes.

Another interesting fact has popped up recently and that one was a bit unexpected to me.  The famous horror sounds from Hitchcock’s “Psycho” soundtrack are believed to be a reworked version of the seven notes from the Third Quartet. Bernard Herrmann decided that Shostakovich’s creation would convey the necessary spirit in the best way. Well, that’s rather a theory than a fact, but still, sounds kinda convincing, have a listen:

Ludovico Einaudi, the 12 “Elements”

Einaudi’s music, already known for its emotional and moving nature seems to be evolving further in its beauty.

Composer’s latest album titled “Elements” has shown another side of the author’s talent. One might be surprised to find out that that the title does not come only from the literal elements like water, fire, air and earth, but is a more complex vision of the world’s essence. According to Ludovico, the idea was to walk on the bridge of the known and the unknown to him, so a great part of the music explores the unexpected sources of inspiration like the myths of creation, Kandinsky’s work, the periodic table, the geometry of the landscape, sound, colour and what not.

The ethereal texture of some of the 12 Elements pieces is changed by the powerful music force of the others. Thus the title track of the album, “Elements” that embodies the ‘organic growth’ is supported by the explosive accompaniment of the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, making it even more invigorating.
The critics agree that the new album is quite experimental for Einaudi, compared to his previous piano writing, with more emphasis made on the genre of piano-based electronica (check out the pieces “Numbers” and “Four Dimension” to feel the change of style). However, while listening to the new poignant tracks like “Drop” or “Mountains”, we realise that what Einaudi became recognised and loved for at the very beginning – is still there.