I shouldn’t be surprised by my uncharacteristic passion for Quatuor Danel’s six-hour and twenty-minute Dmitri Shostakovich: The Complete String Quartets. Reading Jeremy Eichler’s Time’s Echo: The Second World War, The Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance primed the pump last year. The study schooled me about the constraints imposed upon and the compromises made by the Russian composer. Secondly, a methodical investigation of all forms of classical music put Wigmore Hall on my radar during the pandemic. Attending performances at the hallowed institution last month felt like a celebratory graduation ceremony. Immediately upon returning to Kansas, a livestream of Quatuor Danel at Wigmore Hall made me aware of the ensemble’s latest release. I was finally prepared to receive a large dose of Shostakovich. Thorough social and political histories of Russia in the twentieth century are contained in Quatuor Denel’s vehement new interpretation of Shostakovich’s string quartets.
October 2023 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency
Screenshot of the trailer for Garsington Opera’s production of Gioachino Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia by There Stands the Glass.
Top Ten Albums of October
1. Bad Bunny- Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana
Carpe diem.
2. Sylvie Courvoisier- Chimaera
Spectral.
3. Gucci Mane- Breath of Fresh Air
Rap redemption.
4. John Scofield- Uncle John’s Band
How does the song go?
5. Fuerza Regida- Pa las Baby’s y Belikeada
Party central.
6. Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra-
Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 2, 3, 12 & 13
The ponderous soul of Russia.
7. Ava Mendoza- Echolocation
8. Allison Miller- Rivers in Our Veins
Freewheeling jazz.
9. Nathan Davis- Neutral Buoyant
Psaltery.
10. Daniel Villarreal- Lados B
Raw grooves with Jeff Parker and Anna Butterss.
Top Ten Songs of October
1. Kali Uchis- "Te Mata"
Wayback machine #1.
2. Esperanza Spalding- "Não Ao Marco Temporal"
Wayback machine #2.
3. Holly Macve and Lana Del Rey- “Suburban House”
Cul-de-sac.
4. The Streets- “Gonna Hurt When This Is Over”
Such sublime sadness.
5. Danny Brown- "Tantor"
Chaos agent.
6. Ken Carson- "Jennifer's Body"
Tomorrow’s sounds today.
7. Tainy with J Balvin, Young Miko and Jowell & Randy- "Colmillo"
Everything at once.
8. Yebba- "Waterfall (I Adore You)"
Chasing.
9. Flatland Cavalry- "Spinnin'"
Heartsick honky tonk.
10. Drake- “IDGAF”
An extended ECM Records sample!
Top Ten Performances of October
1. Hilary Hahn at the Folly Theater
2. Thomas Rosenkranz at White Recital Hall
3. Samara Joy at the Folly Theater
4. Brent Cobb and Meg McRee and Knuckleheads
5. Alien Nosejob, Citric Dummies and CKrit at Howdy
6. Chamber Music Masterclass with Michael Stern at Helzberg Hall
7. Stan Kessler, Brant Jester, Bob Bowman and Zach Morrow at the Blue Room
8. Vintage Crop, Jackoffs and Konrad Hell and the Highwaters at Farewell
9. Carl Butler, Dennis LaFoon and Terry Hancock- Gospel Lounge at the Gospel Lounge
10. Musica Sacra- Arrupe Hall at Rockhurst
The previous monthly survey is here.
Book Review: Time’s Echo: The Second World War, The Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance, by Jeremy Eichler
Original image by There Stands the Glass.
My race against the clock becomes more urgent with each passing day. I’m committed to becoming as fully aware and completely realized as possible before I die.
Most of my free time is devoted to reading and deep listening. Jeremy Eichler’s new study Time’s Echo: The Second World War, The Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance allowed me to indulge in both pursuits.
A combination of history and musicology, Eichler’s work focuses on four classical compositions inspired by the Shoah in the years before, during and after World War II.
Get this: I hadn’t previously heard any of them. Richard Strauss’ Metamorphosen, Arnold Schoenberg’s A Survivor or from Warsaw, Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No 13 (Babi Yar) came as shocking revelations.
I share Eichler’s conviction that music can act as a form of time travel as well as a metaphysical means to commune with the past. Having eagerly absorbed Time’s Echo, I’m able to use the portal with enhanced sophistication.
Opera Review: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
Original image of DVD booklet by There Stands the Glass.
Dmitri Shostakovich recently instigated an unpleasant exchange in my home. More accurately, my insistence on playing the composer’s clamorous opera “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” at maximum volume was met by a reasonable request to turn it down. I responded with wildly inappropriate sass.
Aware of Joseph Stalin’s condemnation of the opera in 1936- criticism that endangered Shostakovich’s life- I compared my life partner to the murderous Russian. It wasn’t my best moment.
I’d like to blame my abhorrent behavior on my passion for the opera. The library loan of an unflinching 2006 production was my first experience with the work. (Here’s a representative four-minute clip featuring Eva-Maria Westbrook in the title role.) Shostakovich’s portrayal of inhumanity coarsened me. Stalin may have been on to something.
Concert Review: Brentano Quartet at Lincoln Recital Hall
Original image by There Stands the Glass.
Brentano Quartet wasn’t my first choice on Friday night in Portland on December 4. I’d been looking forward to finally catching Thievery Corporation. My hopes were dashed when the band’s concert at Roseland Theater sold out. I made new plans when I learned that the program for Brentano Quartet’s recital at Lincoln Hall would begin with "Quietly Flowing Along" from John Cage’s Quartet in Four Parts. The weirder the better for me.
Sure enough, a distinguished matron near the front row seat I claimed amid an audience of about 125 responded in horror to an interpretation of Igor Stravinsky’s discordant Concertino for String Quartet that followed the opening salvo of Cage. I almost fell out of my chair laughing to Dmitri Shostakovich’s devious "Polka". And Barbara Sukowa’s recorded recitations of Amy Lowell’s Stravinsky-inspired poems were enlightening.
I felt as if a light had been turned on in an unevolved chamber of my brain. Experiencing the cheeky noise being created just eight feet away seemed to transport me into the consciousnesses of the late composers. Unfortunately, the Carlo Gesualdo and Ludwig van Beethoven pieces that followed an intermission extinguished my metaphysical reveries. I started thinking about Thievery Corporation just five minutes into an uninspiring version of Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 16.
Original image by There Stands the Glass.