#leningrad symphony

[that-one-flute12]

book 2 of April!

Symphony For the City of the Dead by M.T. Anderson

This book is a bit of a change from the other books I've posted. It's a biography about my favorite composer, Dmitri Shostakovich. A few cool things:

It focuses not only on Shostakovich and the Leningrad symphony, but also the war and Stalinism and that's cool

Very well written. Often I have a hard time reading biographies but I liked this one a lot.

It doesn't use a lot of technical music terms, which wouldn't be a big issue for me if it did, but if you aren't a musician or can read music but are interested in classical music this is a good book for you.

Talks about his struggles with communism and Stalin

Overall very enjoyable. If you like Shostakovich's work or are interested in classical music or even the Siege of Leningrad, definitely recommend. 9/10

[balletomaneblog]

OMG I lovedddd Masha Bulanova's debut in Leningrad Symphony! She's such a beautiful dancer! I'm so glad she finally had another debut in a larger role. For awhile she's mostly been performing roles like Lilac Fairy or Zarema over and over. Not that I don't love her Zarema or anything, I just want to see her get more opportunities.

[aschenblumen]

Dmitri Shostakovich, Symphony nº 7 in C major «Leningrad», op. 60 (III. Adagio). Leonard Bernstein, director

[the-everqueen]

spotify not even tryna rec me that white girl's new album, lmao, it's like, "you want bleachers, or say she she, or shostakovich?" aww. you know me well.

[paul-archibald]

Conflict

Composers throughout history have often been affected by conflict and have expressed their feelings the best way they know how. Maurice Ravel, Richard Strauss, Vaughan Williams and Benjamin Britten all composed music to commemorate those who tragically lost their lives. We choose four pieces specifically composed to honour those who lost their lives through war and conflict. Ralph Vaughan…

[bebop-station]

Shostakovich and Aziraphale

I was thinking (and talking to @balance-of-probability endlessly) about the choice to have Shostakovich's fifth symphony feature so heavily in S2 ep 1, and how it struck me as a little odd as there are a bunch of composers Aziraphale loves mentioned in the book and Shostakovich isn't amongst them.

Backstory: In 1934, Shostakovich’s opera Lady Macbeth of Mtensk premiered to huge popular acclaim, which was very briskly walked back in 1936 after the Stalinist newspaper Pravda published an article denouncing it.

Actually more than denouncing it, condemning it. It wasn’t credited but was authored by a guy called David Zaslavsky who was almost definitely scribing for Stalin himself. Lady Macbeth was banned in the USSR until 1961.

Anyway by 1936 Shostakovich had written his fourth symphony, which he withdrew from public performance until 1961 because it was more of the same thing that had made the Soviet leadership cancel Lady Macbeth – it was unconventional, anti-patriotic, and indicated that Shostakovich was a “bourgeois formalist”.

So he shelved it and started working on Symphony No. 5 which is, on the surface at least, Soviet as fuck. And that’s what we hear Aziraphale listening to in S2E1.

(Sidebar this story is told in Julian Barnes’ The Noise of Time which is either a literary wank soup or a masterpiece depending on how cranky you are when you first read it)

So basically what Dmitri Shostakovich did in those years between the fourth and fifth symphonies was something that might be familiar to S2E6 enjoyers/agonisers: he decided to toe the party line.

Kind of.

Listening to the finale of the fifth symphony (and if you want to listen along it’s the recording of Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic, it’ll be called something like Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47; iv. Allegro non troppo) without the context of the rest of the symphony or in fact Shostakovich’s life is like ah yes that’s a bit of a Soviet battle anthem let’s march into Leningrad or whatever.

But it is, as critics have increasingly understood in the years since Shostakovich demurely described it as “a Soviet artist's no-nonsense response to fair criticism”, dripping with irony. This man reviled the Stalinist line on art and life – he takes the Soviet anthem and turns it into a sort of fucked up evil clown march. The whole thing gives me this vibe:

(gif from @goodomensedit)

There’s a lot of stuff about that time in Shostakovich’s life that is extremely hard to verify. There’s a “memoir” which is for sure at least partially fabricated called Testimony in which there’s an alleged quote from our man saying that final movement is a parody, that “it's as if someone were beating you with a stick and saying, "Your business is rejoicing, your business is rejoicing", and you rise, shaky, and go marching off, muttering, "Our business is rejoicing, our business is rejoicing"."

Whether or not Shostakovich said that (some of his friends who outlived him support that reading, including Rostropovich who conducted a bunch of his work) you can definitely hear it in the piece and you can definitely see how it gives us a clue into the decision Aziraphale makes at the end of the season.

What Shostakovich had to decide back in the 1930s was whether he would a) flee to somewhere like the US, where many other artists targeted by Stalin went; b) stay and become a public nuisance, leading almost definitely to an off-the-books execution; or c) become a party-approved Soviet Artist and hope for change. Even nudge it along in a subtle way. Even get on the inside and work to bring it down. We don’t know how true that was for old mate Dmitri and we don’t yet know exactly what Aziraphale has planned. But yeah:

tl;dr: Shostakovich 🤝 Aziraphale

          Staying inside a rancid and destructive militarised culture in the hope that it can change

[communist-ojou-sama]

admittedly an arcane gripe but it's insane to me that the top search results on YT for the symphony by a Russian composer about the siege of Leningrad, written during the siege itself, are recordings made in the country that launched the invasion

[shosty-we-understand]

Did you know that Dmitri Shostakovich composed his Seventh Symphony with more parts (as in more instruments/musicians) than what was typical for an orchestra at the time? It was rumoured that he did this because he knew that musicians were receiving extra rations, rations that were the difference between life and death in his hometown of Leningrad.

Leningrad had been severed from the rest of the Soviet Union by the Wehrmacht in late 1941 and was slowly starving to death as food resources dwindled (which was actually the intention of the Nazis; they figured they could save a lot of manpower and munitions by letting the city starve instead of bombarding it constantly).

Music was a major contributing factor to morale, so the various performances of Shostakovich's wartime symphony, which he dedicated to the besieged city, became something of incredible national importance. The Russians especially saw the significance of a Leningrad premiere of this symphony, and began planning a premiere in early 1942. They ran into a slew of problems, however, owing to the active siege that the city was under and the dissolution and/or evacuation of many of its prominent orchestras and philharmonics.

One of the only remaining orchestras, the Leningrad Radio Symphony, had been decimated by mass starvation, hypothermia, bombardment from the Nazis, and the Russian war campaign. Of the 40 members in 1941, only 15 were still alive and/or in Leningrad by 1942, and Shostakovich's Seventh required an orchestra of over 100. Members who had evacuated, joined the Red Army, or died were supplemented by common musicians still in the city and by musicians called back from the front. Most of the musicians were incredibly weak, and their first rehearsal lasted only 15 minutes. The conductor, Karl Eliasberg, was so weak that he had to be dragged to rehearsals on a sled and could barely lift his arms to conduct.

Since the Leningrad premiere was so important and the conditions so dire, the musicians received extra rations in an effort to renew their strength. Those who were late or missed rehearsal were punished by having their rations withheld, and there were no exceptions. One member recalled a fellow musician who arrived late because he was burying his wife, and still did not receive rations for that day.

The idea that Shostakovich purposefully designed this symphony with more parts because of food rationing in besieged Leningrad is pure speculation, but doesn't sound unlike him. Dmitri Shostakovich was known to put his neck out or exert his status in Soviet society to help out others (and rarely used it for his own gain). Nevertheless, scores of people undoubtedly were fed and thus survived because of Shostakovich's grandiose Seventh Symphony, and the Leningrad Premiere would become a national symbol of the Soviet Union's resolve for decades to come.

Pictured above is Dmitri Shostakovich in July 1942 at a rehearsal for the Novosibirsk premiere of his Seventh Symphony. Photo courtesy of the DSCH Shostakovich Journal.

[grumpy-aino]

✨Little S2 Musical Analysis✨

You guys remember when Aziraphale forgives Maggie's debt in the first episode in exchange for some records?

Those records are by none other than Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich and I know LOTS about this man (and why the choice to include him may have something to do with Aziraphale's character arc in s3!)...

Shostakovich's life is usually characterised by his tricky relationship with Stalin. During the 30s, the musical freedom enjoyed by Russian composers came to an end, Stalin clearly preferring more traditional classical music. Although Shostakovich had been criticised for his more adventurous works in the late 20s, his 1936 ballet, Lady Macbeth of Mstsensk got him officially denounced by Stalin's official newspaper (Pravda).

Composers who refused to comply with the standards were denounced as formalists (including Western elements in their art) and risked deportation to a remote area of Russia, imprisonment and even death.

On to the record in question! The Symphony No. 5 was written after this denunciation. It was a success, being to Stalin's liking and praised as a "Soviet artist's practical and creative response to just criticism". Shostakovich was back in Stalin's good books.

Who else do we know to be once denounced and hated by a regime who has just recently got back into their good books?

This might just be a neat reference to Shostakovich's life in comparison to Aziraphale's, but Shostakovich's story doesn't end there: In 1948 he was denounced a second time for his Symphony No. 9, which was promised to be large and triumphant to celebrate the USSR's victory in WWII, but was completely the opposite - playful and cheery, mocking Stalin.

The second denunciation was in a way more serious than the first. Shostakovich (and other composers who were accused of formalism) were made to give quite a public apology. Many of his works were banned and he was expelled from the Leningrad Conservatory.

Although he was put to use again by the government in 1949 at a New York press conference, it had been remarked upon by Nabokov that Shostakovich was "not a free man, but an obedient tool of his government." Even after Stalin's death, Shostakovich still had a strained relationship with the government. They still largely controlled art and in 1960, Shostakovich was devasted when he joined the communist party.

Of course, all of this information could be completely irrelevant and it could just be Aziraphale buying some classical music. especially because the Symphony No. 5 is NOT 21 minutes long like Aziraphale implies (in fact, it's a little over an hour). But so much of this media is intentional and the PARALLELS are insane.

The second denunciation could mean a whole lot for season 3. Aziraphale is probably likely to 'go along' at first with Heaven (Shostakovich wasn't really on board with the heroic nature of his symphonies - the 5th, according to one musicologist, is a love symphony), but might be plotting something. This second denunciation appears like it could be entertaining.

What's more! Shostakovich also had a best friend who died before they could have their post-war reunion (as Shostakovich talked about it his letters). Honestly the whole thing's really tragic and hurts to think about; Shostakovich promised he'd never write another note again after his friend's death, but instead wrote his incredibly painful Piano Trio No. 2.

✨Anyway hoped you liked that✨

tagging @neil-gaiman bc why not?

[ezra-fell-and-co]

Aziraphale & Shostakovich

The moment in the record shop when Aziraphale said he was picking up a Shostakovich record I had So Many Thoughts.

The symphony he's listening to is Symphony No.5 in D Minor, Op. 47, composed in 1937 and premiered in Leningrad to a thirty+ minute long standing ovation. Prior to this piece, Dimitri S. spent many nights sleeping in the hallway outside of his apartment so that his family wouldn't see if the government police in charge of enforcing Stalin's brutal rule came for him in the middle of the night. His last pieces had been received harshly by critics and called unpatriotic, which was just about the worst thing a composer living during The Great Terror (1936-1938) could do. Those who were not loyal to the regime and explicitly portrayed it in their art were branded as traitors and sent to gulags or were straight up executed.

The San Francisco Symphony describes the 5th symphony as "the story of a fall from grace and redemption.". Shostakovitch has gone from being a golden example to being eyed as a traitor almost overnight, the 5th Symphony becoming his redemption back into good graces.

So basically Dimitri S. was a man with contrasting ideologies to the powers that be, so to say, who was living under the threat of death, torture, or excommunication from his homeland. Haha, so weird that Aziraphale would want to listen to his music specifically.

(If you've never listened to Symphony No. 5, I highly encourage you to go listen!)

To set the scene-

From The Houston Symphony's 2018 Fighting the Barbarian Artist article on Symph. 5:

"In January 1934, Dmitri Shostakovich scored one of the biggest triumphs of his career with the premiere of Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, a work official critics hailed as the first great Soviet opera. Based on a nineteenth-century novella by Leskov, it follows the misadventures of Katerina, the illiterate wife of a well-to-do country merchant who is driven to murder in order to be with her handsome but unworthy lover, the laborer Sergei. By turns satirical and tragic, Lady Macbeth explored themes of oppression with a potent combination of sex, violence and some truly beautiful music that played to full houses for two years. Then on January 26, 1936, Stalin went to see it. Two days later, on page 3 of Pravda (“Truth”—the newspaper that continues to serve as the official mouthpiece of the Russian Communist Party to this day), Shostakovich found an anonymous review of Lady Macbeth headlined “Muddle Instead of Music.” One representative quote declared that the opera “tickles the perverted tastes of the bourgeoisie with its fidgety, screaming, neurotic music…”" ...

There is debate about if Stalin himself wrote the review to make a point, or if he just signed off on it being printed. It's also unclear if Shostakovitch was being targeted specifically, or just because of his notoriety to prove that no matter how big a name you are you're not safe if you don't fall in line, or if he was just being used as a pawn in the ongoing power struggles of the day.

Either way, he was very aware that he was in danger. A friend of Stalin's was vanished when he wrote to Stalin in defense of Shostakovitch's work after the fateful review.

The 5th was a result of Dimitri knowing he needed to get back into good graces, so he had to give them something that they wanted. Or at least something that sounded like what they wanted.

Symphony No. 5 is very sneaky in how it subverts the expectations and requirements of Stalin's Russia.

For one, it's form- a symphony is a very structured form and very Western, popularized by Beethoven and co. It's also instrumental, which allowed Shostakovitch to hide a lot of references, subversions, and musical sarcasm/critiques without the untrained critics and government officials being any the wiser.

D minor, the main tonality of the symphony, has been described by various music theorists about what kind of emotional experience it portrays. John Mattheson in 1713 described it as "Serious, Pious, Ruminating. Melancholy, feminine, brooding worries, contemplation of negativity."

However, for our purposes, Aziraphale is listening to the fourth movement, which is also the most political. (More excellent write ups about the entire work can be read here, here, here, and here. There is a PBS documentary about it here.) ((It also shifts to an ironic D Major as one point, which Mattheson describes as "Triumphant, Victorious War-Cries. Screaming hallelujah’s, rejoicing in conquering obstacles. War marches, holiday songs, invitations to join the winning team."))

The fourth movement is bombastic, letting the brass section loose right at the start. The main theme in this section is from an unpublished song that Shostakovitch had written as a setting for a Pushkin poem. The piece as a whole and specifically this movement is a direct critique of Stalin himself.

The poem?

With sleepy brush the barbarian artist The master’s painting blackens; And thoughtlessly his wicked drawing Over it he is daubing. But in years the foreign colors Peal off, an aged layer: The work of genius is ‘gain before us, With former beauty out it comes. Thus my failings vanish too From my wearied soul, And again within it visions rise, Of my early purer days.

Which I think speaks for itself in what kind of mentality Aziraphale might have listening to the symphony.

I'm not sure which recording he listens to, but in the record shop we are shown that it's a record with a blue label on the disk. There are several recordings that have blue labels including the 1972 Moscow Philharmonic with Kiril Kondrashin and the 1989 Scottish National Orchestra with Neeme Jarvi. Leonard Bernstein and the NY Philharmonic have a very famous recording as well.

But I think the most likely is the 1962 Vienna Philharmonic with Constantin Silvestri. Why? Well, here's the record:

[symphonybracket]

YouTube links: Shostakovich 7, Tchaikovsky 6

Comments:

Shostakovich 7

Wonderful story of hope and resistance.

Tchaikovsky 6

Everyone bangs on about the 4th movement but it's the 3rd movement that really hits

tchaik 6 is what i would listen to if i had an hour to live

the 5/4 movement of the tchaik lives rent free in my mind and i think about it every day

It’s beyond gorgeous. The melodies soar, the orchestra swells, and you just need to lie down for a while after listening to it. It’s Romanticism at its zenith. You want to weep and sigh, and it’s impossible to listen to it without literally feeling something.

Symphony No. 6, titled “Pathétique”, was Tchaikovsky’s final symphony. It is an intensely emotional piece, and to many scholars demonstrates the emotional turmoil that characterized much of Tchaikovsky’s life. He died about a week after its premiere, a fact which leads many scholars to debate about whether the content of the piece itself reflects the possibility that he may have committed suicide. The title itself is often translated to mean “impassioned suffering”, although this was most likely a later addition by Modest and not actually part of Tchaikovsky’s vision. Given these facts, many scholars interpret this piece to be about death and suffering. However, this piece can also be seen to represent life and all its contrasting moments. This interpretation is more holistic and inclusive of all of the moments captured in this piece, and also serves to break down the common narrative of Tchaikovsky as a tragic figure.

More comments about Tchaikovsky 6 below the cut (length warning):

Scholarship surrounding Tchaikovsky’s music tends to focus heavily on the ways his confliction over his homoerotic desires appears in his writing. However, his personal letters reveal a much more balanced understanding of himself that goes beyond the common narrative. In one letter written to Modest describing a new relationship with another man, he writes: “I awoke today with a feeling of unknown happiness and with a complete absence of that emotional sobriety that used to make me repent in the morning for having gone too far the day before.” Many of the letters he wrote regarding his relationships demonstrate no shame and no anguish beyond what can be expected of a man living in a homophobic society. It is important to take this information into account when listening to a piece such as this one that has been discussed so frequently, and to understand it beyond the turmoil and strife that it is seen to represent. Like many of Tchaikovsky’s works, this symphony displays a range of human emotions. It is not only representative of tragedy and “impassioned suffering”; it is a depiction of what it is like to live. It is also interesting to note that this piece is used as a signifier of queer desire in the novel "Maurice" by E.M. Forster, a novel also notable for its radical portrayal of a queer man who gets a happy ending. Much to think about there.

The first movement begins with a lone bassoon soloist playing a plaintive minor melody, which later comes back in the strings. As the movement progresses, it grows in intensity and texture. More instruments are added, and the music becomes more frantic, building and building towards the dramatic trumpet fanfare. Throughout this piece, Tchaikovsky continues to make significant use of contrasting dynamics and melodies, reflecting the emotions he hopes to convey through the music. Dramatic, tumultuous sections are interspersed with pastoral woodwind melodies, and the angry brass fanfares give way to a quiet ending.

The second movement is reminiscent of a waltz, and uses the strings and woodwinds more than the brass to achieve its floating melodies. The dynamics ebb and flow to build tension, but this movement never reaches the same levels of anguish that the previous movement does. Tchaikovsky makes use of pizzicato in the strings to convey a lighter, more cheerful mood, and features the upper woodwinds prominently. He also repeats themes frequently, giving the audience something familiar to listen out for as the movement progresses.

The third movement begins with frantic energy in the strings and woodwinds. As more instruments join the rush of music, the underlying eight note accompaniment does not let up, continuing the vivacious beginning through the whole movement. Instruments pass the melodies between each other and engage in conversations across the orchestra. Like the first movement, the brass play a prominent role in creating dramatic climaxes in the music, as well as supporting the march-like conclusion. Conductor Myung-Whun Chung describes the deceptively dramatic ending as, “one of the greatest, most thrilling, but most empty of victories in musical history,” observing that this movement has the energetic finality of a final movement. The reversal of having the true finale be a slower movement represents a shift away from the “Beethovian model of light over darkness” common in most other symphonies of this time period.

As mentioned before, ending on a movement with a slow tempo was a significant shift away from the standard of the time. This innovation inspired many other future composers to use the same technique, most notably Mahler in his Ninth Symphony. The quiet beginning builds up towards a chaotic rush of fast runs throughout the orchestra, only to stop abruptly and continue in halting, cautious bursts of melody. The movement continues with this cycle of rushing up to a climax and backing away as the movement progresses. Tchaikovsky highlights the horns in this movement, giving them both angry, blaring notes which cut through the string melodies and the flowing, lyrical lines that are passed throughout the orchestra. As the piece ends, the instruments fall away until all that is left are steady repeated notes in the basses, bringing this lament of a movement to an understated close.

[skitskatdacat63]

As per usual you’re taste in classical is 🔥. Not good at putting it to words but the symphony felt vibrant and I enjoyed listening to it all come together. Favourite piece had to be ‘Adagio – Largo – Moderato risoluto – Largo – Adagio’ made me jealous that I couldn’t witness it live 😔.

— Penalanon (also seeing the side by side with the conductor on yt , I can see the resemblance lol)

Hehe you don't know much it means to me everytime you tell me you've listened to my reccs!!! <3 Also omg, I would literally die if I ever got to see this one live. I's my absolute favorite right now!! I think though, thankfully, I'll get to hear one of his other symphonies, the 5th, which is also pretty great! He really does look so much like Shostakovich, doesn't he??? So funny.

I love the whole piece dearly, but my favorite is definitely the first movement, because the way it ramps up is so adrenaline filled and makes me feel so much palpable emotion. Also the context behind it, which was what the book I was reading was about(Symphony of the City of the Dead by M.T. Anderson, which I highly recommend!!) It's just crazy to think he was writing the first two movements while the Siege of Leningrad was actively getting worse and worse(thus why it's referred to as "Leningrad.") I think he even marked the original score every time he had to go into the bomb shelter, which is so insane. Knowing that context, the whole first movement makes my heart drop and I can just FEEL the tension he probably did writing this. That repeated melody, which is basically Shostakovich's version of Ravel's Bolero, in the beginning is referred to as the "Invasion Theme," so it's really so easy to picture the approaching of the army, getting more and more tense until it comes to a fever pitch(though you can also interpret this piece as being about fascism/authoritatianism in general, i.e. Stalin and The Great Purge OR Hitler and Operation Barbossa.)

AGHHHH god, and thinking about how when he finally finished it, the city of Leningrad itself(which he thankfully managed to evacuate from before it got too bad) was desperate to play it, even though everyone was dying from starvation. They were collecting literally anyone who could play an instrument to be able to play it, even though it required a huge orchestra and was long as hell. I want to cry just thinking about that premiere, how everyone was so grateful to finally feel human and creative again in some tangible way through music(lol so you can see why I'm so enthralled with this piece.) And the fact they even played it over loudspeakers as a sign of resistance to the Germans !!!! It's a very emotional piece to think about, and I start tearing up every time I listen to it, thinking about all of this. Every bit is packed with emotion so it's hard to even express what parts I like specifically, cause I love all of it! Though here's a fun fact, they almost lost this piece!! Shostakovich and his family were evacuated further East from Moscow, and in the confusion, they lost the score he had composed so far(I think the first two movements), but managed to find it on the train, miraculously unscathed. It stresses me out to even think about.

Also since I've got you here, here are some more reccs >:)

Jazz Suite No. 1 & No. 2 - Shostakovich

These are so whimsical and fun! But they also kinda make me sad when I remember this is the kind of fun music he liked to compose before the government practically beat all the fun and whimsy out of him. But, still, the duality of man, I guess?

Piano Concerto No. 2 - Shostakovich

Spotify link this time, sorry lmao. I wanted to share this recording specifically because there's a lot of signifigance in it. The fact that it's his compositon, which his son is conducting and who it was written for in the first place, and his grandson is the one playing the piano!!! The second movement is especially so good omg

Scherezade - Rimsky-Korsakov

Soooooo incredibly cinematic for its time!!

Symphony No. 3 "Organ Symphony" - Saint-Saëns

I saw this one in concert the other day, so I should link it lol. I'm so happy when the organ gets used, there's nothing like it, it's so loud!!

La valse - Ravel

Ma mère l’Oye - Ravel

I've been listening to Ravel the past few days, and wow, his music is so magical so I thought I should link some!!

Dies Irae - Verdi

Piece I am going to tomorrow !! Requiems are so cool, you should also listen to Mozart's, but I'm sure you're familar with some of it. This kind of chorael singing rips at something deep in me

Japanese Suite - Holst

*adding this late so I hope you see it! Literally randomly heard this rn and I had no idea it existed. It's crazy how good Holst is at giving the vibe of something. This was composed while he was working on the Planets, so it still has a space vibe but also reminds me SOOOOOOO MUCH of Inazuma's soundtrack, it's insane. I know it's probably because they're both based on traditional Japanese music, but still, wow. Holst truly is the creator of the modern soundtrack imo.

[sixty-silver-wishes]

hmm do I listen to mule variations today for its 25th anniversary or do I listen to shostakovich viola sonata to commemorate his death day. or shostakovich symphony 7 to commemorate its leningrad premiere

[the-authoress-writes]

Family

(AKA some of my Tom “Iceman” Kazansky headcanons)

Warnings: Tom “Iceman” Kazansky’s father’s A+ parenting (not), mentions of cancer.

Author’s Note: This was instigated by @callsign-skydancer, after she sent me a very insightful message, and I just had to go with it, until, voilà, I churned this out in an hour and a half.

I’ve had these headcanons for a while now, but it’s because of Sky that I decided to get them down.

I’ll be using these in some later stories, so if you see some copy-pasting, you didn’t see anything, self-plagiarism doesn’t count, 😂.

I have no idea if this makes any sense, I wrote this in what I feel is a weird tense, but I have to get this out of my head, so I can finish “Wherever You Go”.

Enough of the Authoress talking, here we go!

Family has a great deal of meaning for Thomas Kazansky.

It affects and has affected him in more ways than one, and it continues to influence and shape him.

It was why he joined the Navy.

Most people assume that his father was Navy, because they hear higher-ranking officers whisper “He’s related to Kazansky” or things like that, but they’d be wrong.

His father was not Navy.

His father is Dr. Vasily Kazansky, a prominent Honolulu cardiologist, who detests all things military, who wanted nothing but for Tom to follow in his footsteps, demanding utmost academic excellence in preparation for medical school, creating a habit drilled into him that carried over into Tom’s service.

His grandfather, however, was Captain Sergei Kazansky, a highly decorated US Navy officer who served during World War II.

As a child, during visits to his Dedushka Sergei and Babusya Anya, young Thomas could be found in his grandfather’s arms, listening wide-eyed to Sergei’s stories of his time in the Navy.

It was Sergei Kazansky who instilled in Tom a love of country, and the desire to serve.

Tom’s decision to join the Navy and attend Annapolis was what drove a final wedge between Tom and his father, who detested the military for taking his father, Sergei, from him, in more ways than one, both physically, and emotionally, Sergei not knowing back then how to handle his trauma.

It was his grandfather who pinned the Lieutenant Junior Grade bars on his uniform, and Tom will never admit it, but he had tears in his eyes when Sergei embraced him and whispered in his ear, “Я так горжусь тобой, Томас,” words his own father never said to him.

It broke his heart when Sergei died of lung cancer three months before he was slated to attend TOPGUN.

But his memories and the lessons his Dedushka taught him would stay with him forever.

Most people would never assume that Tom “Iceman” Kazansky would have an artistic bone in his body, but they would be absolutely wrong.

One of Tom’s best kept secrets was that he is a very accomplished pianist.

He was taught by his mother, Yelena, how to play the piano, and music ran in her family, her own father, Oleg, having been a violinist with the USSR State Symphony Orchestra, before his defection to America.

Tom’s fondest memories of his mother are of afternoons spent with Yelena teaching him to play the piano, after dragging him from his homework, which enabled him to play Chopin at twelve, followed by the two of them listening to recordings of classical music, some of them featuring his grandfather Oleg’s playing, his father’s long hours at work enabling this time away from studying without censure.

One of his most prized possessions is a vinyl record which he inherited from his mother, of Shostakovich’s “Leningrad Symphony”, where his grandfather Oleg can be heard playing second chair violin.

In general, Tom’s favorite pieces to play are Chopin, but depending on his mood, what he plays varies.

When he’s at his most neurotic, Bach comes easier, the precision required to play those pieces giving his mind something to fixate on.

When he’s upset or angry, he hammers away at Scriabin, and some pieces of Rachmaninov, like “Prelude in G Minor (Op. 23 No. 5)” and “Prelude in C Sharp Minor (Op. 3 No. 2)” and Beethoven’s “Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor (Pathétique)”.

When he’s feeling a little drifty, he goes for Satie and Debussy, or “The Lark” by Glinka and Balakirev.

When he’s happy, Chopin’s “Heroic” polonaise is a must.

When he’s lonely, Chopin’s “Nocturne No. 20 in C Sharp Minor (Posthumous)” is a standby, because of how it reminds him there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.

He’s proud to say he can play his dream piece from his early high school years, Liszt’s transcription of “La Campanella”, though he still thinks he can get it just a little bit faster.

His most recent dream pieces are Rachmaninov’s “Piano Concerto No. 2”, and Liszt’s “Rondo Fantastique (El Contrabandista)”.

It’s because of him that Bradley is as good a pianist as he is, having been the Baby Goose’s teacher on the instrument.

He wishes Bradley would show off the classical pieces he knows more than his rendition—great as it is—of “Great Balls of Fire”.

Family has shaped Thomas Kazansky for better and for worse—there are still days he can hear his father telling him an A- wasn’t going to get him into any half decent Ivy League, or that he had to try harder, that his best needed to be better, and those are the days he plays Bach, or Scriabin, Rachmaninov, and Beethoven—but it was also what made him who he was, what led him to what he loves doing, and what led him to the family he chose.

Taglist

@valmare

@callsign-skydancer

@permanentlyexhaustedpigeon88

@tadomikiku

If you’d like to join my taglist, just send me an ask!