Oh Im sorry, context, right. None of the following was prompted by anything some ignorant fool wrote for RollStone or NBC with their pivotal experiment drivel. It had to do with what I have been reading... So I followed up this book, amazon/Please-Kill-Me-Uncensored-History-ebook/dp/B00F21WW6W/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1390178765&sr=1-1&keywords=please+shoot+me With this one. amazon/Galina-A-Russian-Story-Vishnevskaya/dp/0156343207/ref=sr_1_cc_2?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1390178819&sr=1-2-catcorr&keywords=galena+opera Ill go out on a limb and speculate Im the first to do so. The only things in common are music and a colorful cast of characters. In the former its Lou Reed, David Bowie, The Ramones, Blondie, Iggy Pop etc. Fun Fact: While Ive heard the expression I didnt know it was real. There once existed a job at record companies termed Company Freak who was the liaison between the squares on top and the street. Their business card would have read as such. As to the later, we have Sakharov, Solzhenistsyn, Shostakovich, Stalin, Khrushchev, Bulganin, Tito plus music by Prokofiev, Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky. Also it is in the later book you will actually find an empathetic character in one Galina Vishnevskaya. When I mentioned to a couple people that I was reading a book about a Russian soprano they both asked, gangster? No, singer. She was one tough gal, having survived the siege of Leningrad during the war she went on, with minimal instruction to sing for the Bolshoi (more than ballet it includes opera as well). She had little use for apparatchiks and she sang so well they couldnt bend her to their will. Another example, she and her husband let Solzhenistsyn live with them at a time when he was radioactive. Heres Galina: The authorities contempt for Solzhenisyn had reached its apogee: they had read a manuscript of The Gulag Archipelago which his acquaintance, E. Voronyanskaya, was keeping for him in Leningrad. How they picked up the scent, I dont know. But Solzhenitsyn told us Voronyanskaya had been interrogated by the KGB around the clock for five days and five nights. She ended up producing the manuscript for them; then when she got back home, she hanged herself. Anyway an admirable and fascinating personality. Now onto some music. I previously posted this: youtube/watch?v=0FF4HyB77hQ This fellow explains things here, pbs.org/keepingscore/video-shostakovich.html I feel he soft peddles a bit but I wont quibble, as to the piece itself I like the pfloydian meltdown starting at 11:49. From the book I learned that Shostakovich had to defend the work to a no-nothing party hack (in a country full of them) and convince him that no, this work is actually uplifting and optimistic and a paean to the revolution and the hack bought it. One last thing, I dont believe it a coincidence that the part that sounds like circus music is followed by what sounds like a funeral march. Also I posted this: youtube/watch?v=Z_hOR50u7ek A few notes, you can tell the composer is Russian, he really has them blowing the horns (heaviest in any version Ive listened to). I appreciate his gesture at 0:11 but really its all for naught. The interesting thing about the two pieces is that they were both composed during the Great Terror and I think it shows. Which leads me to...Shostakovich got his start composing film scores, speaking of which I wonder what Hans has been up to. Lets see, watching Man of Steel my ears prick up when the ship goes into the phantom zone and checking IMDB, yup. I knew he had also done Batman so does that put him into the D.C. universe? Not necessarily: youtube/watch?v=pK2zYHWDZKo Starting at 1:26, that is from the Thin Red Line soundtrack scored by Hans. Now lest you think that I have arrested development with regard to all these comic book movies sometimes I can only take so many Requiems for a Dream and just want a simple escape for a couple hours. Which brings me to the non super hero movie and questionable director Blue Jasmine. Im reminded of what someone said about loving the art not artist. With that in mind, Cate Blanchett deserves all the awards she gets. And lastly, communism could only exist if they destroyed both church and family (the state doesnt like the competition). Per Galina in the beginning 90,000 of 130,000 clergy were killed outright. Galina says the costume department pilfered the vestments from the Kremlin to make costumes for the operas she performed in. She felt badly because they were beautiful but had to pick her battles. As to family, children were taught in school at an early age to inform on their parents. Its good that none of that could happen here... p.s. In the great Glanville-Krupa feud of the 21st century (and this is from one who hasnt seen the show) I side with Krupa only because shes Eastern European, no really ;-).
Posted on: Fri, 14 Feb 2014 12:37:09 +0000