What do you think of USSR composer Prokofiev and Shostakovich?

[RedPaladin]

Have you ever listened to the art music by USSR composers like Prokofiev and Shostakovich?
Were they really persecuted by USSR goverment for their music?
Do you believe the autobiography of Shostakovich,the Witness is genuie?

[Tyrlop]

yes i listened to it its wonderful!

[MockDoctor]

"Peter and the Wolf" is merveilleux :laugh:


As for Prokofiev and Shostakovich, I never heard of the USSR government taking any kind of measures against them :confused:
I asked my mom, considering my family (maternal side) consists pretty much 100 % of Russians who obviously lived in the USSR, and she said that, quite on the contrary, the government liked Prokofiev's and Shostakovich's music and promoted their music. The USSR government ( at least, during Stalin's and Brezhnev's regimes) always sponsored classical art - whether it be art, music or literature.

[scarletghoul]

My sister likes Shostakovich a lot, and from what I've heard he is pretty good. My sister insists there are secret anti-Stalin messages encoded into the music, but I am not sure about that...

Shostakovich was a great composer and recognised as such by the soviet state, who promoted his music and commissioned him on many official occasions. This commissioning could be seen by some as 'coercion' as if he was forced at gunpoint to write songs praising Stalin, but thats really stupid. He was well off and could easily have fled the country. (There was of course a lot of censorship during the Stalin time, but its stupid when people think all the great art of the Stalin regime was made from fear of the gulags..) Anyway Shostakovich seems like he supported the USSR generally as he continued living and working there up until his natural death in 1975

I dont know much about Prokofiev.

[fatpanda]

From what I Know

Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Khatchaturian were all enthusiastic about Socialism and were only considered "too formal" under Stalins repressive Government

[RedPaladin]

Have you ever read the autobiography of Shostakovich recorded by one of his students, the Witness? That book is full of anti-Stalin feelings.

I've heard Shostakovich and Prokofie lived on writing "pratical muisc"(like film music) and their art music was critisized by the USSR goverment for "formalism".
But the attitude of goverment is quite contradictory for they were awarded and prasied at one time ,but were critisized and their music was banned at other times.