Robert Greenberg — Great Masters: Shostakovich—His Life and Music: Lady Macbeth

Excerpt from The Great Courses — Great Masters: Shostakovich — His Life and Music: Lecture 3: “Lady Macbeth”

Discover the extraordinary life, times, and art of Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975), great musical master and flawed but faithful witness to the survival of the human spirit under totalitarianism. He is without a doubt one of the absolutely central composers of the 20th century. His symphonies and string quartets are mainstays of the repertoire.

But Shostakovich is also a figure whose story raises challenging and exciting issues that go far beyond music: They touch on questions of conscience, of the moral role of the artist, of the plight of humanity in the face of total war and mass oppression, and of the inner life of history's bloodiest century.

[ClarissaBrown-eb]

Thanks again, Prof. The poor man. You must've listened to the 2nd movement of his 2nd piano concerto, conducted by Maxim and played by Dmitri Jnr. Exquisite and poignant.