Shostakovich - Symphony No. 14

Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, conductor Alexander Lazarev

This is bleak, dark music. The majority of movements sound despairing and hopeless... my favorite of which was the opening theme from "De Profundis," repeated in "The Death of a Poet." It is this genius statement which James Horner apparently ripped off to write the string quartet for the closing credits of Aliens - one of my favorite movie soundtracks, so no surprise that I like the original... well, not better, but similarly. (That was graceful.)

Backing up, this work is a collection of poems set for two voices and symphony, modeled after Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death. He meant it "as a protest against death, and, by extension, against tyranny and persecution in any form" (not Shostakovich himself, but the liner note author Eric Roseberry). The texts are from poets writing during times of war and revolt, with a large variety of depressing subjects including - yes - war casualties, suicide, solitary confinement in prison, and a dying poet, but also several with different subject matter, including a medieval witch, tavern, and a letter cursing the Sultan of Constantinople. Some of these latter are the exceptions to the dark and bleak music - especially, queerly, the final "Conclusion," whose text by Rainer Maria Rilke is:

Death is immense.
We belong to him
of the laughing mouth.
When we think we are in the midst of life
he dares to weep
in our midst.

The accompaniment for this poem is rhythmic and sparse hits from strings and percussion, which, if you didn't guess, is slightly incongruous.

Other favorite moments of mine included some 12-tone rows on the celeste in "Loreley," and dissonant, suffering string passages in "The Death of a Poet."

Dark dark dark. A good palate-cleanser after pop music.