Great Masters: Shostakovich - His Life and Music

By: Robert Greenberg, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Robert Greenberg

Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Dmitri Shostakovich is without a doubt one of the central composers of the 20th century. His symphonies and string quartets are mainstays of the repertoire. But Shostakovich is also a figure whose story raises challenging and exciting issues that go far beyond music: they touch on questions of conscience, the moral role of the artist, the plight of humanity in the face of total war and mass oppression, and the inner life of history's bloodiest century. And though he was not without flaws, he was a faithful witness to the survival of the human spirit under totalitarianism.

And now you can discover the extraordinary life, times, and music of Shostakovich in a probing series of eight lectures from an acclaimed conductor, teacher, and music historian. Drawing on both the flood of declassified documents from the Soviet Union that began in 1991 and Shostakovich's own extraordinarily frank posthumous reminiscences, Professor Greenberg shows how Shostakovich, who, in the words of a friend, "did not want to rot in a prison or a graveyard" was still unwilling to become a docile instrument of the Soviet regime.

You'll learn how what he would not say publicly in words, he instead said through his music - messages from a buried life of his experiences during the terror of Stalin, the Nazi destruction of his country, postwar reconstruction, and the arms race.

In work after work, often composed under crushing difficulty and anxiety, you'll hear how he used a brilliant arsenal of ironic conceits, musical quotes from un-Soviet sources such as American jazz or Jewish klezmer tunes, and other techniques to assert the integrity of his art in the face of totalitarian oppression, and to pay, as he said, "homage to the dead."

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2002 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2002 The Great Courses

awesome!

What made the experience of listening to Great Masters: Shostakovich - His Life and Music the most enjoyable?

The history that is learned along side of Shostakovich's music.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Great Masters: Shostakovich - His Life and Music?

His survival in the Soviet Union.

Any additional comments?

This is about the 12th Greenberg lecture I've listened to, and I have enjoyed them all. He is an excellent educator. Starting another today, Bach and the High Baroque.

Greenberg knows his stuff

Another great audiobook by Robert Greenberg--he knows his subject matter well, keeps the listener's attention, and mixes in just the right amount of music. An easy, fun way to learn more about classical composers....

Prof Greenberg gets a 40 out of 10

Best professor I've ever had and I have a lot of degrees. He brings light, even enlightenment, into the dark corners. A genius with communication skills that break through my denseness and propel me up, up to the deep blue sky of appreciation and understanding. I am so grateful.

Learning is Cool!

well done on all levels, pace, depth and the use of music samples, really well done. it's inspired me to check a lot more of his music!

I believe his best

I have listened to most of Greenberg's lectures and this is the most fascinating. Delivery remains over dramatic, but this is not as snarky as some.

Shostakovich’s Ringside Seat to History

Greenberg once more weaves a tapestry of history and great music. Shostakovich composed throughout his turbulent lifetime, employing his genius amid extreme political pressure to generate expressive master works.

Utterly fascinating!

What made the experience of listening to Great Masters: Shostakovich - His Life and Music the most enjoyable?

Shostakovich was a musical genius working during very difficult times. Because his life was always at risk during the Stalin and post-Stalin eras, he had to walk a very fine line to survive. What makes his music particularly fascinating is the way he wove irony and dissonance into the melodic lines. Stalin and his henchmen perceived the music as heroic, a tribute to the triumph of their reign, but anyone with ears and a clear head would perceive in the same sounds a scathing indictment of the Soviet leaders' crimes against humanity. Robert Greenberg is as entertaining as he is brilliant. I particularly enjoyed his send-up of the American academic elite, who discounted Shostakovich's condemnation of the Soviet Union because it didn't conform to their preferred narrative about the virtues of Communism.Greenberg points out that in the years from the revolution to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, 61 million civilians were slaughtered--nearly three times Hitler's bodycount--a number that is recently being discredited for being too low (!) Shostakovich would be the first to say he wasn't a hero--but he was a survivor and a witness. His music is the ultimate refutation of totalitarianism and testament to the importance of artistic and personal freedom. Don't miss it!

What other book might you compare Great Masters: Shostakovich - His Life and Music to and why?

Greenberg's course on Beethoven is completely amazing. I'll be listening to more of his courses soon.

What does Professor Robert Greenberg bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Insight, expertise, personality, and a wonderfully entertaining delivery. Greenberg doesn't read: he performs!

A wonderful overview of a phenomenal composer

This is a great overview of the man and his music. Robert Greenberg went through all of his quartets and symphonies, except for the 11th and 12th which surprised me in their absence in these lectures.

Professor Greenberg is a gem

It’s like those history classes where the subject is interesting and the professor is charismatic and intensely passionate about teaching you about it.

Testament of our Times

I grew up in a safe America, went to college during Vietnam and listened to so many of my peers flirt with communism and socialism. I also fell in love with the music of Shostakovich and the prose of Solzhenitsyn. They were both blessed and cursed to live in a time of monsters. The monsters shaped their times and their voices in wonderful and horrible ways, but ah what voices. They left a testament to our times recording both their and their cultures sufferings and struggles. After hearing this course I heard more clearly the voices beneath the beauty and wept for what was lost for their generation but preserved for us.