How I Discovered...SHOSTAKOVICH

I came to Shostakovich very early, even before I hit my teens, and in a most unusual way. Have a look to find out the details, and then please share with me your own first experiences.

[@Bullroarer1750]

My first hearing was the fifth. Completely bowled me over. Had never listened to anything that expressed such deep human emotion. The numbness of sorrow, suffering, and terror of the largo was something I had never heard. So far from the triumphant tradition. His 8th symphony absolutely wears my soul out to listen to beginning to end. I only do it once in a while, but it is one of my favorite favorite symphonies. So horribly powerful. But, the fifth completely changed my idea of what a symphony is.

[@connykarlsson9969]

As a music student, I found a record of Shostakovich's concerto op 35 for piano, trumpet and string orchestra in our music library. It was already an old recording with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein with Maurice Andre trumpet and Andre Previn piano. I don't know how well that recording has aged but to me at the time, with no other references, it was amazing!

[@MDK2_Radio]

I discovered Shostakovich in college because I was a history student and read about his suppression by Stalin and was intrigued. At the time they didn’t play him much on the radio nor did my parents seem to listen to him much, but they did have Karajan’s first recording of the 10th which I borrowed. I was instantly hooked. What’s important to get across is that while I grew up with classical music in the house, in typical kid fashion I rejected it as my parents music and embraced rock growing up. It was only after I left home, started missing classical music and started collecting the basics. Shostakovich was one of the first composers outside of the core (late baroque through mid romantic) that really expanded my horizons and I’ve loved him ever since. I’d never heard anything quite like it before, particularly the whirlwind second movement. Still my favorite of his symphonies.

[@davidgroth26]

I also started in band playing french horn and loving the Festive Overture and Finale of 5th. I went on to be a professional basso opera singer, so, the 13th and the songs and Michelangelo Lieder, of course hooked me. And the greatness of Shostakovich carrying the Soul of Russia

[@hugomiller1025]

"The soul of Russia" Indeed it is.

[@chrisdurham563]

Shostakovich is very personal to me because he was the first classical composer I really got into. As a young man in his late teens and early 20s, I found his music to be full of humanity, irony, comedy, anger, excitement and anxiety. Its universality of emotions appealed to me because when you're young your emotions are so varied. I loved seeing him as a composer who struggled with the historical times he lived in but his music responds to it in such a beautiful manner.

[@jennyrook]

When I was a student, the Fitzwilliam Quartet were in residence at York university. This was the early 70s. The Fitzwillies often played Shostakovich quartets and once Shostakovich himself attended! I remember a very frail, balding, hunched figure across the auditorium. He applauded the quartet, and then we, the whole audience, got to our feet, and cheered him. What a great composer! I think I knew the 5th symphony before this, but otherwise it was the quartets that got me going.

[@fabiotash]

Shostakovich 7 is my favorite

[@annakimborahpa]

Leningrad

[@hugomiller1025]

@@annakimborahpa Don't forget the unspeakable circumstances of its premiere - musicians dropping dead of hunger and starvation - yet still they managed to get it performed.

[@musiclistener8859]

Aged 21, I was thumbing through the LP records in an Edinburgh chemist and department store called Boots. I had loved the only symphony recording my family had at the time (Dvorak's New World). For all I knew, ALL symphonies might be just as great and I picked out one randomly, bearing a washed our sepia picture of a Russian cathedral. On playing it, at first I was disappointed at its gloominess, but I am Scottish and had paid five pounds for it. As I persisted in listening with a completely innocent ear, I soon understood that I had discovered the music of a genius. It was Shostakovich's Eighth.

[@annakimborahpa]

Agreed.

[@kbaptet]

Shostakovich is another composer I discovered through the listings of his symphonies in the Schwann catalog. The Fifth was the one with the most recordings, so I went for that. Before I could buy a copy, I found it in the collection of a friend's parents and got their permission to play it, so I knew what I was in for when I bought a copy (Ormandy, the Columbia version) - I remember, unusually, the exact date; it was a month before I turned 15. Having determined this was a wonderful composer I could use more of, I noted that the next most commonly recorded symphony was the Tenth. The opportunity to buy it came when my grandparents were visiting; we stopped by a record store and they offered, as a present, to buy me any record I wanted. They looked a bit oddly at having a 15-year-old grandson in the '70s whose choice of a record was Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony (Ormandy again), but that was me. I didn't buy the rest instantly, but worked my way to it. I was still in college when I found the last installment, the by-then out of print Gould recording of the Second and Third. I maintain that the Third sounds more like the Fourth and even the Fifth than you'd expect, if you listen to it the right way, so I enjoyed it too.

[@leeturner1202]

I recall a trip many years ago, in the early 1960's, when I was in about the 9th or 10th grade. We visited a friend of my brother-in law. I was already interested in classical music, but had not yet heard anything by Shostakovich. In one afternoon, we listened to both the 6th and 7th Symphonies. I very much preferred the 6th, and still do. And on top of that, I also heard my first Mahler: his Symphony, # 4. One afternoon opened up whole new worlds that I have been exploring ever since.

[@malcolmxfiles]

Great story! I first heard Shostakovich's Waltz No. 2 because it plays over the credits of Kubrick's last film, "Eyes Wide Shut." It stayed with me. When the pandemic hit, I had sometime on my hands and decided to investigate further. After reading his Wikipedia entry, I decided to listen to all 15 of his symphonies. In one night I heard Symphony No. 10, No. 8, and No. 5. After that I was hooked and I'm still listening. It's been great to have Dave's videos to accompany me on this journey.

[@That_gray_sheep_guy]

I just recently fount out about Shostakovich, I was on a train ride from Valencia to Cadiz Spain, and I was listening to the violin concerto 1. And some how I felt anger, despair, and utterly sadness and I did not realize when the tears were coming out only when I keep wiping them out and couldn't understand why? So I did listen to the 5th. But it didn't have that powerful emotion as other people describe. But the quartets... Those are what I'm coming back. To Shostakovich. Also found the waltz #2 so beautifully endearing.

[@nielsbenzon1839]

I was unfortunate enough to borrow the 2nd symphony from the library. After that I avoided him. Right up until I bought a CD with violin sonatas by Schnittke. But the sonata by Shostakovich quickly won my heart. After that I was a fan forever.

[@jankucera8180]

Three events, and I remember them as vividly as if they happened yesterday, yet I cannot be sure about their particular time order. I heard the second cello concerto with Heinrich Schiff and the Prague Symphony... and was thrilled. I heard the symphony No 10 in a concert of the Czech Phil... and it was even more gripping. Finally, I bought an LP of his Suite on verses of Michelangelo Buonarotti with Yevgenii Nestyerenko... it was an LP pressed in Russia but packaged for the Czech market and it had the verses printed on the cover... and I almost destroyed it, as I played it so many times.... I was hooked forever.

[@BittersweetMoods]

I didn't start listening to Classical Music until my late-20s (I'm 44 now). It started with Symphonic/Tone Poems as they were accesible to someone used to Film Scores. Shortly thereafter it was about large-scale orchestral music, which led to a love of Mahler, and then to composers like Bruckner and Shostakovich. Shostakovich's string Quartets were influential in my transition to preferring chamber music.

[@johkkarkalis8860]

The quartets are basic library for me. The soul of Dmitri Shostakovich is in this music.

[@chrisschmitz9034]

I discovered Shostakovich in a very similar way. Growing up in Port Jefferson l played Baritone horn from 3rd grade to 12th grade. Never could read music and played my ear for the most part. In high be school our music teacher, Mr. Neubert gave us a transcription of the 5th symphony, probably the final movement that you talked about. I enjoyed playing the piece but didn’t know it was by Shostakovich until much later. After hearing the whole symphony played with Haitink conducting l said,”hey, l played that in band. I always wished that Mr Neubert told us about the piece and some of the history connected to it.

[@jgesselberty]

I first encountered Shostakovich when I was subscribed to the Time-Life History of Music Series. One of the 4 LP sets had a recording of "The Execution of Stenka Razin." I was hooked.

[@davidbo8400]

It was late on a starry summer night in Spain, listening to the local classical radio while writing an experimental novel. (I was thirteen at the time, and I was the kind of kid who thought writing an experimental novel or an uncommercial concept song cycle was how vacations ought to be spent). At some point they started playing Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and fugues, the whole set. I began recording it on a cassette midway through the first prelude. I was mesmerized by it, and for a couple of years that's all I knew of Shostakovich. The next work I came across was Lady Macbeth (simply because I really liked Macbeth), and the first symphony I listened to was "Babi Yar", because the title resembled Baba Yaga. And since I liked the ELP's LP of the Pictures, which was how I discovered Mussorgsky, I thought Babi Yar would be some kind of of surreal, symphonic fantasy piece. Not really. So that's how I learned about Babi Yar (at age 15). I wasn't in a hurry to listen to the others, after that. But eventually, I did

[@mikkorantanen2544]

I haven't been an avid classical music enthusiast for a long time but Shostakovich was really my gateway to the wonderful world of classical music. I come from the Metal or especially Extreme Metal side of music and Shostakovich really showed me how evil and brutal and menacing it can really get. And through your videos Dave, I can now greatly enjoy and especially understand a wide variety of classical music, for which I'm really grateful!

[@MDK2_Radio]

Is your name in tribute to the hockey player, or do you really share the same name with him?

[@mikkorantanen2544]

@@MDK2_Radio I really share the same name. And I'm a couple of years older than him 😅

[@annakimborahpa]

Since you to came to Shostakovich's music from Metal/Extreme Metal and he "really showed me how evil and brutal and menacing it can really get," may I assume you have immersed yourself in the 'life and death' first movement of his 8th Symphony? Possibly Sibelius 4th Symphony too, eh?

[@MDK2_Radio]

@@mikkorantanen2544 that’s great. I live in Colorado so I’m familiar with your namesake. I will check out your videos. Extreme music is one of my interests too.

[@mikkorantanen2544]

@@annakimborahpa Yes! That 1st Movement of the 8th symphony is pure horror. I recently saw his 7th symphony live and man that experience was something else. It was my first Shostakovich concert and definitely wouldn't be the last!

[@robertwalker2052]

I first heard Shostakovich's Piano Concerto in the early 70's. It was written for his own son, Maxim, which I remember was the name of a brand of coffee at the time. My recording was with Leonard Bernstein playing the solo part AND conducting as well. It is wonderful music and a great intro to this composer.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Piano Concerto No. 2, to be exact.

[@geraldparker8125]

I had never been greatly fond of Shostokovich. Yeah, that Fifth Symphony "grabbed" me as a kid, but being somewhat adverse to gigantism in music, I never have followed the symphonies very much. However, I loved "Age of Gold" ballet and when I discovered not just the suite, but the whole, very absorbing ballet, I just flipped. It's one of my favourite dance works now. There is more to Shostokovich than the symphonies.

[@brtherjohn]

For me, we had Eugene List's Westminster recording of the two piano concerto. As a child I found the first so quirky. Loved it! Not exactly a 'safe' introduction to Shostakovich! That was followed by Ormandy's account of the 15th!! I didn't know what to think...

[@robertdandre94101]

once upon a time....a record bought at a low price ($3.99 can) at sam the record man in montreal, with very nice photos of kmemlin.....shostakovitch symphonies no 5, kondrashine, angel, melodya, I listened to this composer who was unknown to me .... I was struck by the strength and energy of the music. I liked it.

[@rickcavalla7341]

I was first exposed to Shostakovich by a Kronos Quartet disc called Black Angels, which was spearheaded by the George Crumb piece of the same name. I bought it for the Crumb, which I had heard good things about. I was in my early twenties and it was one of the first classical discs I ever bought. The Crumb piece was interesting, but I much preferred the final piece on the disc: the 8th String Quartet of a guy named Dmitri Shostakovich. It was dark and emotionally extreme, but still traditionally melodic, and a perfect gateway drug for a kid who grew up on Iron Maiden and Metallica, who are similarly dark and emotional but highly melodic. The DSCH 10th with Karajan and the DSCH Violin Concerto #1 on Naxos with Antoni Wit came next and really solidified my love for Shostakovich. The Passacaglia of that VC really floored me. What is the deal with passacaglias? Why are are so many of them so good??

[@s.k.angyal3768]

The story that Shostakovich rebelled against Stalin with his music triggered my interest, especialy with his fifth Symphony. Apparently he left his fourth Symphony in a draw until the guy was dead. Still my favourite work of Shostakovich🎶

[@henryoliver2833]

The "marathon, not a sprint" is the advice I needed right now. Thank you for the reminder!

[@marknewkirk4322]

Sometime in my early teens (1977?), I was on our annual pilgrimage to DC to visit relatives over the Christmas holidays. That was my one chance each year to get to a decent record store. Dad took me to a shop on Dupont Circle, and I was given a budget. Most of the LPs were between 5 and 7 dollars, but you could get Odyssey or Seraphim for under 3 dollars (the Columbia and Angel/EMI cheap labels). So I tried to get as much music as I could for my money. I had heard of Shostakovich and was interested in hearing him. The only cheap Shostakovich record they had was actually on Everest - the Seventh Symphony with Ancerl and the Czech Phil, so I picked that. I think I managed to get 5 LPs in all for under 20 dollars. Anyway, the Shostakovich Seventh was the crudest thing I had ever heard. The famous repetitive passage in the first movement horrified me, but it was like watching the proverbial train wreck. I kept listening to it over and over, but always in my room with the door closed and with the volume turned down pretty low. Why? Because I was EMBARRASSED by the vulgarity of the music. It was like classical music with dirty words - like my mom would want to wash little Dmitri's mouth out with soap. Later on, I was relieved to learn that vulgarity was only one side of the Shostakovich coin.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

And it was intentional...indeed, that was the whole point.

[@jdistler2]

For me, appreciating and getting to know Shostakovich's music was a long and gradual process, starting with casual, passive hearings of the 1st, 5th, 7th and 13th Symphonies during my teens. Oddly, my composition teachers never talked about Shostakovich. And although my college had a strong music department, I don't remember his name or his music ever coming up. It was only when I started writing reviews back in 1992 that I started to study the symphonies, chamber works and piano works, while exploring the ever-expanding discography.

[@kenwuesq]

I "discovered" Shostakovich also via the 5th Symphony in high school as a member of the Illinois Music Educators Association "state" orchestra. We only played the final movement, but it was one of the most exhilirating experiences of my life. I've been fortunate to noodle in the second violin section for non-music major college and community orchestras (thank you JCCs) throughout my life. For non-professional musicians, we often requested it on programs, but alas, high school was my only performance. Thank you again for your channel. For the past three years, you rekindled my love of classical music after a couple decades of dormancy.

[@hugomiller1025]

The brilliant Cohen brothers movie 'Raising Arizona' features a 'blue-grass' arrangement of the finale of Beethoven's Ninth - and it's great ;)

[@CaradhrasAiguo49]

I "paid more attention" to Shostakovich after Post-Classical Ensemble did a concert featuring Barshai's arrangement of his 8th "DSCH" String Quartet for String Orchestra, as part of a "Music in the Cold War" (or some similar title). It was immediately clear to me that the maestro could write with discipline, apart from the quartet itself being visceral

[@stevenbugala8375]

I stumbled upon Shostakovich via a 60 Minutes profile of Rostropovich. I was just getting into classical in high school. The Iron Curtain was tearing. Towards the end, they showed him leading the National Symphony Orchestra on tour in Russia. While the finale to the Fifth was being played, Mike Wallace related that Rostropovich felt that the finale should be played “like a fork in the brain.” I was hooked. It felt brand new to my ears…but somehow like I knew it all my life. I went to various libraries and checked out all I could. I was impressed and perplexed he wrote 15 Symphonies. The cover art was frequently strange and disturbing. Great stuff!

[@alexiusa.pereira9956]

Dear Dave, due to my advanced age, I heard you say that you love “banned music.” I then expected to hear how you came to Dmitry’s out of soviet favour music … but anyway, eventually when I figured out you were talking about the brass band. For me it was Shostakovich’s 8th quartet that a local group inserted in their programme in between a Haydn quartet and the Dvorak American.

[@willschmidt8284]

I first heard Shostakovich’s music when I was in a youth symphony concert. There were multiple groups, and my group was the second to last to perform that day. Once we were done, we rushed back into the stands to watch the top ensemble play the finale of Shostakovich 5. The music itself didn’t hook me as much as it would others, but it was still something. The performance got a standing ovation, and it had been the longest I had ever clapped for something at that point. It was that that left an impression on me. A few months later I listened to his first symphony out of curiosity. I was only getting started with listening to classical music at this point. I largely credit Shostakovich with getting me into it in the first place. I listened to a few more of his symphonies in the next few days (in order. I didn’t branch out to Leningrad or Babi Yar just yet). Fast forward a couple weeks and I learned I got into my state’s All State Orchestra ensemble, and you’ll never guess what we had to play. We only played the last two movements of his tenth symphony, but never had I been so invested in a single piece I had played in my life. I was on contrabassoon, which was an instrument I had never touched before. For those unaware, contrabassoon is not a 1 to 1 switch from bassoon like it is with the saxophone family, so, I basically had to learn how to play a new instrument for a Shostakovich symphony. I still had an absolute blast. And the music was nothing like I had played before. It was the first time since middle school where I had to count out loud to come in on time! I still have the fast section of the third movement stuck in my head. I’ll never forget blasting all those low notes during the climax of said fast section. Shostakovich’s music has taken me many directions in life, and of all the classical repertoire I listen to on the regular, his music takes up nearly a third of it. Granted, I’m still young, so there’s plenty of time for me to discover a new favorite composer and run off into the sunset with them, but for now, I’m glad I discovered Shostakovich’s music, and I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of hearing his works.

[@lednew2010]

Ah yes... the band competition (called "Champions On Parade") was an annual Barnum Festival tradition for me too in the 50's and 60's.

[@danellewilbraham]

The Ohio State marching band is a brass band, except with b flat trumpets instead of cornets, plus pretty standard marching percussion. It’s HUGE: 192 players plus 36 alternates.

[@DavidJohnson-of3vh]

This is great! That transcription was exactly my first Shostakovich. Mitropoulos/NYPO 5 was the first recording I heard of it. I have it on cd.

[@lednew2010]

My first exposure to Shostakovitch came when I was 3. Saturday mornings on Channel 4 (WNBC) from NYC was the kids programming and cartoon shows, but for some reason it started at 7 AM with a program called "The Modern Farmer" about agriculture from the NY State agriculture department. It ran for 27 minutes and had no outside sponsors, so, to fill that 3 minutes, they put up a slide and played the "Polka From The Age Of Gold" every week. So, I quickly learned the piece and often whistled or hummed it perfectly. Of course it wasn't till many years later I found out what the work actually was by hearing it on WQXR, but I had that short work down cold for all those years.

[@platonos86]

Thank you, Dave! Shostakovich is one of the greatest. And you're always in top form when you're talking about him. Are you planning to review the new Melodiya recording of the complete symphonies by Alexander Sladkovsky?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

If I can get to it. I have it sitting on my desk...

[@gooddoctor2020]

First time "getting Shostakovich"? Cincinnati Symphony back in the 1990s. Mesmerizing in every way, the final movement may have been the most memorable I have heard live or via recording. A very old man sitting next to me remarked just after the 10-minute ovation concluded: "I think I may have just lost the rest of my hearing after that performance and it was well worth it!" And from there Shostakovich has been a staple of my listening journey. Great video, Dave. Thanks!

[@MDK2_Radio]

What work did they perform?

[@aclassicaldisaster]

@@MDK2_Radio Probably the 5th. Maybe the 7th.

[@davidsilverman1741]

My discovery came at six years old when I saw what must have been a rerun of Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concert - Humor in Music. And what really caught my attention was the Shostakovich's 9th Symphony example. Really liked it - but at six the ability retain his name & the piece eluded me. But - it stuck with me, in the back in my mind somehow. Roughly 4 years later I reheard it on the radio - and went "AHA! I have been wanting to hear that piece again forever!" and listened carefully to the names of composer & piece. Went and got this great recording by Milan Horvat and the Zagreb Phil - had the 1st paired 9th (of course). And I loved both immediately. Was particularly happy to hear again the 9th and the movements less familiar to me. And later, I discovered the 5th - in band. We ran through it and I was again fascinated. Ran and got - the Ormandy recording. And afterwards went on to listen to just about everything else he wrote.

[@dvorakslavenskiples]

I listened to the 2nd movement of the 10th symphony for the first time on a CD for the subject of music culture in elementary school. I was a bit shocked, I didn't know what I was listening to, but I really liked it because it was completely different from what I was listening to (Mozart, Wagner, Beethoven, Schumann, Tchaikovsky...). I was around 12 years old at the time and I remember that it was a performance by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orch. and conductor Ladislav Slovak. Around the age of 14, I downloaded a recording of the entire 5th symphony performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Sir Charles Mackerras online for free. At the same time, I listened to the entire 10th symphony by Karajan (his 2nd recording). On my friend's recommendation, I got an online cycle of all the symphonies by Rostropovich and since then, my love for Shostakovich's music has made me fall in love.

[@davidaiken1061]

It's delightful getting to know you through your listening history. As for me, my first encounter with Shostakovitch was also through the Fifth Symphony; but I should say that I didn't really "discover" this work or the composer, but rather my mother. She had always loved Russian music, especially Tchaikovsky, and sometime during my high school years she got ahold of a copy of Shostakovitch 5 (Stokowski with the "NY Stadium Orchestra" on Everest--a thrilling performance which I remember vividly). This piece became something of an obsession; she played that recording morning, noon and night, and often while she was doing house cleaning. She sang along with every movement. By the time I was in college, I had become so sick of hearing that work that I never wanted to hear another note of that composer. However, a few years later I happened to hear an FM broadcast of the Eighth Symphony, and was quite taken with it; I thought to myself, "Wow! This sounds a lot like Mahler!" And so, over the years, I gradually acquainted myself with Shostakovitch's major works, though only within the last decade did I hear Symphonies 2, 3 and 12 for the first time, as well as most of his String Quartets. He's a composer I'm still exploring. His dark ruminations seem particularly apposite for the age in which we live.

[@OmidDadgari]

I discovered Shostakovich from a cassette of Leningrad Symphony, from my uncle's collection of classical music, he left behind after he emigrated to Canada. It was Bernstein with NYP, and as a 8 yo child I was fascinated by the bolero-like theme of the first movement, which becomes bombastic and scary as it goes on. I forgot Shostakovich until I was 30 or so, when in a small Music Analysis community, we started working on Shostakovich's symphonies and we began with the 5th. Now that I was grown up, I found that I could communicate very well with the dark, spooky and stifling atmosphere of his work as I was living it in Iran under clerical totalitarian regime. From then and for last 10 years I lived much of my musical life with Shostakovich and became so close to him and his works that I can't think of a world without his music.

[@stephenkeen2404]

I suspect my introduction to Shostakovich was fairly unique. It was an assignment in my high school philosophy class. We had to listen to the 5th Symphonies of both Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich and write an essay on whether Russians had a messianic complex. Listened to them in class (beats a film) and again after school; wrote a brilliant essay but don't remember what I concluded. What I remember is that it was a trick question, because "there is no dialectic in nature." I still don't know what that has to do with messianic complexes or symphonies. But I did learn that I like Shostakovich better than Tchaikovsky. I've grown up, so I no longer make such invidious comparisons. Still, I listen to a lot more Shostakovich than Tchaikovsky and more of his compositions as well.

[@gomro]

I discovered Shostakovich through the movie ROLLERBALL, which used the finale of the Fifth to underscore James Caan's victory over the Corporate Cabal or whatever they were. However, as much as I liked the music I heard, I sensed that it was anything but victorious, and wasn't a bit surprised to find, several years later, that the "triumphant" Fifth might well have been satirical and ironic. And maybe the maker of ROLLERBALL -- Norman Jewison, I think, but I don't care enough to go check -- also felt the hollow victory of the Fifth, because James Caan's character has won a game,. but the Cabal is still out there, and the games still go on, and Caan is still in their crosshairs at the end of the flick. Cue the Shostakovich.

[@bbailey7818]

We played that Shostakovich 5th finale in high school band! I played clarinet. But the first recording I bought was Bernstein's NYP 7th and wore it out.

[@soundtreks]

Mine was watching a print of Oktober (Eisenstein) in university which had his 12th symphony 1st mvmt tracked under it. The Haitink reading from Decca. Been a fan since 1990.

[@edwardcasper5231]

I played the band arrangement of the last movement of Shostakovich's 5th in college, It's quite decent, as the original lends itself to a band transcription (and one can find performances of it on KZbin). I also enjoyed playing Vaughn Williams' English Folk Song Suite, which was originally written for band. To your connection to P.T. Barnum, I lived for a year in Baraboo, Wisconsin, which happens to be the home of the Ringling brothers. There's a beautiful theater in Baraboo that was built by one of the brothers, and the Circus World Museum is there, that's dedicated to everything circus. A quaint little town.

[@craigkowald3055]

Like many band students, I discovered Shostakovich via the Hunsberger transcription of Festive Overture. Also was in the Gator Band at the University of Florida for 5 years, and yes, we played the finale of the 5th. Also played the Tchaik 4 finale transcription. The Bernstein 5th was what I had in my collection.

[@neilcameronable]

When i was in my early 20s i was an extra in a movie about Shostakovich the one with Ben Kingsley partly filmed in the St Georges Hall Liverpool.I was in my early days on my Classical music journey and i thought since i was in a movie about the man i had better listen to some of the music.Entirely at random i got from the music library the Piano Concerto No 2 i think it was the Bernstein Recording on CBS?...i fell in love with it.for a long time after, that was the only work i heard untill again at random i heard Symphony No 5.A friend of mine one day in a discussion about Russian music dismissed Shostakovich as a composer who would not stand the test of time in the future!!!.How wrong was he!..that just encouraged me more to continue listening.

[@ruramikael]

For me, it was #5 with Rostropovich on DG (1983). Back then, the local library had pocket scores of the symphonic repertoire, so that is when I started to study scores.

[@mike-williams]

When I was a kid there were no classical music resources of any kind. It was in the Australian bush - no radio stations, no music in libraries, no music teachers for the most part. However there were lots of composer biographies in the children's section of the library. There may have even been a series of them, but I certainly read bios of Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann etc obviously with a heavily fictional layer for young minds. In some cases it was more than a decade before I got to hear the actual music they wrote. With Shostakovich, it was the biography Testimony that came before hearing his music. I actually cried reading that book on a commuter bus! The film made of the book may have come next or some symphony recordings, I don't recall. I'm still discovering Shostakovich.

[@johnwright7557]

I’m not sure how or when I was introduced to Shostakovich, but my earliest memory was when I was in the first years of high school I used to go to my grandmother and aunt’s apartment and play records for them. They were particularly taken with Tennessee Ernie Ford, but I introduced them to classical music through such records as the Songs of the British Isles with the Norman Luboff Choir singing What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor, etc.! One of the records, though, was with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops that included Shostakovich’s Polka from the Age of Gold. We all thought it was one of the funniest pieces we had ever heard. After that it was the Fifth Symphony with Bernstein on Columbia that I heard on the radio. I used to listen to Public Radio while I studied and they played records of real modern music in those days! The finale blew me away and I had to have that recording. After that, due to my Columbia Record Club membership, I got the premiere recording of the Cello Concerto (the only one Shostakovich had composed at the time) along with the First Symphony-still two of my favorite versions of those works. Then another Ormandy recording, this time the Fourth Symphony which I didn’t really understand and thus didn’t like as much as the Fifth. Also I received a compilation set from the club that contained some excerpts including the Scherzo from the Violin Concerto (again only one then) with Oistrakh and Mitropoulos. Those are my earliest memories of Shostakovich, but he quickly became one of my favorite composers.

[@ammcello]

The 9th symphony was the first thing I played my freshman year of high school, was a performing arts high school. I wasn’t ready to comprehend the 2nd or 4th movement yet. 3rd movement was dazzling. Was assigned the piano quintet the following year.

[@stevemcclue5759]

It was Dad's fault. He also had the Ormandy Shostakovich 5, which he played often. I was very young (9 or 10) and ignorant of what instruments might be in an orchestra. There's a point in the 1st movement where the piano starts hammering out a new theme and I sat up thinking - wait, that's a *piano*? As an orchestral instrument? Which got my interest. Then I saw the film "Rollerball" which used the slow movement over one scene, and I was sold.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I also thought that low piano entrance was pretty amazing.

[@HassoBenSoba]

I'm a freshman in high school (Fall, '65) and my piano teacher (a guy with great foresight) hands me a score (French Boosey edition) and an LP (Mravinsky on "Concert Disc" label?) of the SHOSTAKOVICH 10th SYMPHONY....totally out of the blue...and says "See what you think of this." I knew nothing of Shostakovich and had never read a full orchestral score. To put it mildly, my life was changed forever. LR

[@Bachback]

You are quite the storyteller. For the second (and last) time, I recommend that you write a memoir of some sort. Cheers.

[@geraldparker8125]

Rehearsals for marching band routines are fatiguing and tiresome, but doint the show at half-time is so exciting that it is almost worth it. Playing at the football games, too, tooting scored points and that kind of thing, absorbs one into the game. I liked it back in junior college days. However, it is good to play in concert band, too, so as not to max unduly on sheer musical fluff.

[@ExxylcrothEagle]

For me it was that Black Angels cd from Kronos Quartet. I knew someone who had a lot of weird music and I liked the shostakovich more than the black angels piece. I got into string quartet 7 and then became really obsessed with 11.... symphonies 7 and 10 came next. I saw 7th performed by Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra conducted by I believe Mariss Jansons... I'm now still mystified by symphony no. 8

[@annakimborahpa]

1. Shostakovich's 5th is probably the most popular and universal of all his symphonies, so I would imagine Dave's immersion into the composer's music matches that of many others, including myself (minus the three minute band transcription). 2. How Dmitri was able to communicate on multiple levels to his 1937 premiere audience in Leningrad through (1) consoling those grieving the victims of Stalin's terror in the Adagio third movement and then (2) feigning obeisance to the Soviet authorities with that over-the-top pompous ending in the Finale is a marvel of the composer's determination to survive as an artist remaining true to himself, while withstanding the soul-crushing dictates of the government's long shadow continually trying to shackle his creative process. 3. That conflict of artist and government is the key to understanding the propulsion of Shostakovich's oeuvre. If anyone can be considered the symphonic successor of Mahler in the 20th century, he was it.

[@richfarmer3478]

My introduction to Shostakovich was the Festive Overture on those themed LPs like FESTIVAL! Usually with someone like Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. That led to the 1959 Bernstein recording of the 5th Symphony. Unlike you I stayed away from the later more difficult works and went next to the 7th(Bernstein again) ana a cassette of the 11th with Stokowski and the Houston Symphony. Now I appreciate all his works( the 15th being a favorite) though I must admit I'll never love the 14th.

[@gigifaricelli]

It's funny. When I was little and introduced to a new composer, I always assumed that their entire output was as good as the thing I was listening to. Shostakovich took some time with me, because I would hear one thing and think it was the most exciting thing ever. Then I would listen to something else by him and think it was the most boring thing ever. What really got me was his first piano concerto.

[@garydavis9361]

I think mine was a band arrangement of the 5th symphony as well. We didn't march it, though. It was of the complete finale and included instruments that couldn't be marched with. It was a really good arrangement, reasonably close to the original, though replacing low strings with low brass produced some cringe moments. Later, we did the Festive Overture as arranged by Donald Hunsberger, if I recall correctly, which really worked well. Tomorrow I have the opportunity to experience the fifth again as an orchestra I am playing with starts rehearsing it tomorrow.

[@krozjr5009]

A combination of being an avid History lover so being susceptible to a very historically-infused composer; the perhaps-(in)famous Tantacrul video on Shostakovich (still not a bad introduction, to be fair); and having WAY TOO MUCH time on my hands in lockdown. So I listened to the 5th and 10th Symphonies, then the 8th Quartet, then the 7th Symphony, and then… well, two years later, I’ve listened to half the catalogue!

[@neiltheblaze]

My intro to Shostakovich was an unhappy one - the Third Symphony....on a lousy Melodiya LP with awful sound with some awful Army male chorus singing some choral piece about the glories of the Fatherland or some such baloney. Basically, I wrote Shostakovich off for a couple of years after that and refused to listen to anything until I heard a performance of the Fifth on the radio and was transfixed by it. I learned two important lessons - don't judge any composer by one work; and don't buy music without hearing it first unless you are prepared to hate it and still keep your mind open.

[@cappycapuzi1716]

what instruments did you play?? clarinet?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Clarinet, piano, percussion, and viola for about ten minutes.