#Galina Ustvolskaya

[lesser-known-composers]

Galina Ustvolskaya (1919-2006) - Twelve Preludes for piano (1953)

0:00 - I. 2:23 - II. 3:54 - III. 5:59 - IV. 7:48 - V. 9:13 - VI. 12:14 - VII. 13:24 - VIII. 14:22 - IX. 15:10 - X. 17:06 - XI. 18:24 - XII.

Performed by David Arden

[sarahtheflutist]

Born in Petrograd, Ustvolskaya studied from 1937 to 1939 at the college attached to the Leningrad Conservatory (later renamed the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory). From 1947 till 1977 she taught composition at this college. In 1939 she entered Dmitri Shostakovich's composition class at the Conservatory as the only female student in his class. Her composition teacher said of her:

"I am convinced that the music of G. I. Ustvolskaya will achieve world fame, and be valued by all who hold truth to be the essential element of music."[1]

Shostakovich sent some of his own as yet unfinished works to Ustvolskaya, attaching great value to her comments. Some of these pieces contain quotations from his pupil's compositions; for example, he employed the second theme of the Finale of her clarinet trio throughout the Fifth String Quartet and in the Michelangelo Suite (no. 9).

Ustvolskaya was a pupil of Shostakovich from 1939 to 1941 and from 1947 to 1948, but her works from the 1950s onwards retain little influence of his style. Until 1961 none of her true works were performed other than patriotic pieces written for official consumption. The middle of the 1960s witnessed greater tolerance for modernist music, and interest in Ustvolskaya began to grow – the Leningrad Union of Composers organized in the 1970s evenings of her music, which received high praise from listeners and critics. Widespread recognition came after her music was performed in several concerts of the 1989 Holland Festival.

[onenakedfarmer]

Playing

Ingrid Karlen VARIATIONS

Anton Webern - Variationen für Klavier, Op. 27

Galina Ustvolskaya - Piano Sonata No. 3

Valentin Silvestrov - Elegy

Pierre Boulez - Douze notations pour piano

[kaffilatte-moved]

⚒️ the lady with the hammer, galina ustvolskaya ⚒️

[angelofthemornings]

The only person whose birthday I have in my phone is Werner Monksbrother. Happy birthday Werner, I hope you were a good brother and not a little shit

(Trivia: the original post misnamed the monk, I think, I believe they're talking about Hermann of Reichenau instead. That was the guy who composed Salve Regina, or at least it's commonly attributed to him, among other hymns, as well as scientific, astronomical, mathematical, and religious texts. Very cool person to have as a bigger bro. Wikipedia tells me that the composer Galina Ustvolskaya also set some of Blessed Hermann's texts to symphonies, so that's a fun thing I will look for today to celebrate the family.)

(By the way, Hermann of Reichenau was pretty severely disabled. He may have had spina bifida and/or cerebral palsy and/or a muscular atrophy disorder. This is why he was given to the monastery by his parents who couldn't afford to raise him, so that he could live an easier lifestyle. Really drives me insane when lunatics insist Ye Olde Timey Germanics would have just left people who couldn't do hard labor out to die in the woods.)

[sixty-silver-wishes]

obsessed with every time shostakovich writes for voice. his vocal works don’t get as much spotlight as the instrumental ones but godddd

that part in symphony 13 where the soloist’s voice seems to break when he sings “я каждый здесь расстрелянный ребёнок” (I am every child shot dead here) gives me chills every time, and is probably the most powerful part of the entire symphony. the tragedy and rage of the piece is transcending the text and music, compelling even the performer’s voice to waver.

the part in lady macbeth where katerina and sergei are in prison and katerina expresses her devotion to sergei- the man she has no choice but to convince herself to love- as he cheats with sonyetka . absolutely haunting . and then when shostakovich revisits lady macbeth and quotes it in the 8th quartet in 1960, this context is so much more heartbreaking when you consider the themes of betrayal in the opera and the circumstances under which shostakovich wrote the 8th quartet.

you have cycles like songs from jewish folk poetry, the spanish songs, six romances on verses by english poets, the michelangelo and tsvetaeva cycles, etc. where a whole other dimension is added to these texts with the music. you can almost see the scenarios described in the texts played out in your mind, just by hearing them sung and accompanied. the harmonies in “songs from jewish folk poetry” especially stick in my mind, along with the desperation in “the abandoned father” («Цирелэ, дочка!»)

and then there’s the antiformalist rayok and “preface on a complete collection of my works.” gahhhh, shostakovich is so good at satirical comedy. there is so much to these works to dissect, and they’re just so fun. and he’s a talented lyricist, too; his comedic works can be surprisingly personal and vulnerable.

even with socialist realist works he likely wrote out of desperation, like “song of the forests” (a work he allegedly regretted writing according to galina ustvolskaya), there’s no cut corners. he takes his art seriously, even when it exhausted him (as he said himself on the film scores of the 40s). there’s so much in his vocal pieces to examine and they’re some of his most fascinating works imo.

[allweneediskill]

ascoltatevi la musica di

Galina Ustvolskaya

e rifletteteci su: maialine e maialini-

[exit-babylon]

Galina Ivanovna Ustvolskaya (1919 - 2006): Composition No. 3

[bussyplease]

Didn't read + Br🤮hms enjoyer (=opinion invalid) + probably listens to Purcell and Telemann unironically + never heard Sorabji's Opus Clavicembalisticum.

The only actual valid composers are John Dowland, Galina Ustvolskaya, and Boris Tchaikovsky. Anything else is beneath any tasteful ear. Checkmate, atheist.

Online classical music gatekeeping is so dumb. I've seen at least a dozen posts that include phrases like "Don't mention the second waltz to a Shostakovich fan," or posts ranting about people who say that they like classical music but can only name four or five composers.

People should be allowed to enjoy whatever music they want without being looked down on for not knowing enough about it. Everyone starts off somewhere, and pushing them away will only lead to fewer people getting into classical music.

There's a real culture of being highbrow and dismissive to other genres among hardcore fans, which is ridiculous. Everyone should be able to consume whatever art they want if they enjoy it.

[musicmakesyousmart]

Valentin Silvestrov / Arvo Pärt / Galina Ustvolskaya - Misterioso

ECM

2006

[lesser-known-composers]

Galina Ustvolskaya - Sonata No. 2 ·

Marianne Schroeder, piano

[jgthirlwell]

JG Thirlwell + Ensemble will be performing as part of the Bang On A Can Long Play Festival on May 1 2022 at Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn. The Festival runs from April 29-May 1 2022 and will feature 60 concerts over three days in eight different venues in Downtown Brooklyn.

There will be performances by Attaca Quartet, Ashley Bathgate, Balún, Joan La Barbara, Kelly Moran, Matmos, Sun Ra Arkestra, Tristan Perich, Dither & Lee Ranaldo and many more, and works by Anthony Braxton, Arvo Pärt, John Luther Adams, Terry Riley, David Lang, Eliane Radigue, Galina Ustvolskaya, Robert Ashley, Ornette Coleman, Brian Eno, Julia Wolfe and more.

JG Thirlwell + Ensemble play  chamber versions of some Foetus repertoire and will be premiering two new arrangements for the show. With Evan Allen on piano and accordion, Leah Asher on violin and viola, Rebecca El-Saleh on harp, Simon Hanes on acoustic guitar and bass guitar, Pete Moffett on percussion and JG Thirlwell on vocals.Tickets are available at  https://bangonacan.org/longplay/ and you can receive a 50% discount on tickets by using the code JGTENSEMBLE

[thegreatlearning]

[kaffilatte-moved]

🔨 the lady with the hammer, galina ustvolskaya 🔨

[aschenblumen]

Galina Ustvolskaya, Poema nº 1. Reinbert de Leeuw, conductor

[sixty-silver-wishes]

Tumblr's Guide to Shostakovich: Part 1

Hello, and welcome to a multi-part series of posts I'll be uploading weekly called Tumblr's Guide to Shostakovich, an informative and casual approach to the life and works of Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (1906-1975), one of the most well-known Russian composers of the Soviet era. I have been researching Shostakovich for the past three years and am very excited to share what I've learned with you all!

Part One- Overview: Who was Shostakovich?

(Yes, he looked like that. Luckily for Tumblr, this series will include plenty of photographs.)

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1906, and died in Moscow in 1975. He was a skilled concert pianist and composer of a variety of works, including 15 symphonies and string quartets, three ballets, operatic and vocal pieces, film music, concerti, and other chamber and orchestral works. In the west, he's most well-known for not just his music, but his complicated relationship with the Soviet authorities since 1936, when his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District was denounced in the state newspaper Pravda on January 28th of that year. Since his denunciation, Shostakovich attempted to compose within the style of Socialist Realism, or an artistic style that intended to display Soviet political and cultural values and be easily accessible, but many of his works from 1936 to 1953 (the year Stalin died) are often interpreted by scholars to contain "hidden meanings" and messages of dissent. This has made Shostakovich both a popular and a controversial composer among western music scholars, who often debate interpretations of his pieces, as well as details on Shostakovich's personal life and political values.

Shostakovich is a difficult figure to research, not only due to the multiple interpretations that exist of his pieces, but also the differing accounts of the man himself. The most infamous example of this is the 1979 book Testimony, written by Solomon Volkov and claimed to be Shostakovich's own memoirs, as transcribed by Volkov himself. Testimony portrays a bitter, angry Shostakovich, vocal in his dissent towards both the government and the Soviet musical establishment. While some scholars and even some who knew Shostakovich side with Testimony as legitimate, others have argued that Testimony is likely partially, if not completely, fabricated. (It is for this reason that I will not be relying on Testimony as a source in this series, but rather primary accounts from Shostakovich's contemporaries and his own correspondence. Secondary sources will be cited, but primary sources will be referred to whenever possible.)

Speaking of primary sources, they also tend to muddle Shostakovich research even further. Many people knew Shostakovich throughout his life, and many different recollections of him, some of them conflicting, will appear from his friends, family, colleagues, and adversaries. For instance, Isaak Glikman and Lev Lebedinsky were both, at one point, friends of Shostakovich. However, when Shostakovich joined the Communist Party of the USSR in 1960, while Glikman and Lebedinsky agree he did not join the Party willingly, their accounts differ in that Glikman claims Shostakovich reluctantly joined the Party to ensure his own stability, Lebedinsky claims he was tricked into signing the official documents while inebriated. There are some sources, like Galina Ustvolskaya, whose recollections of Shostakovich changed with her opinion on him- as their relationship deteriorated, Ustvolskaya recounts Shostakovich increasingly negatively. And there are some accounts based simply on misremembrance, hearsay, rumours, and speculation. Oftentimes, I find myself having to read accounts from multiple primary sources and deciding which ones are the most consistent, without the satisfaction of finding out concrete truth.

Finally, there's Shostakovich himself. While many of his letters to various correspondents survive and have been published in Russian and other languages, Shostakovich's writing is notorious for its use of sarcasm, tautology, literary allusions, and Russian idioms, making it all the more difficult to interpret in translation or even without Russian cultural background. Shostakovich also had a habit of destroying letters after reading them, so of course, many of the letters we do have are missing crucial context. And of course, he constructed a very official public persona (particularly after 1948) that was remarkably different than his private self, adding to the complexity of discerning his own views and opinions.

However, to me, the thing that interests me the most about Shostakovich was his resilience. He lived through a number of catastrophic historical events, personal attacks, and hardships, all of which are documented in his works, many of which provide both insight into the Soviet historical zeitgeist of the time and Shostakovich's personal situation. And yet, despite everything, he kept composing up until his death, with his last work, the Viola Sonata, the only one whose premiere he did not attend. Much has been said about the "depressing" quality of Shostakovich's works, particularly during his Late Period (1954-75), but a wide scope of other emotions exist within his oeuvre, from his wicked sense of grotesque humour to his deep compassion for life and humanity. Despite popular characterizations, Shostakovich was a complex man whose work only proves to be just as complex the more we study it.

-

Thank you for reading! The next post will discuss Shostakovich's family history and its deep background in revolution.