It can be a very self-limiting thing for a composer to do, to commit to a single interpretation of the notes on the page. One thing that gives Shostakovich’s best pieces their power and longevity, for example, despite the limited modes of expression you’ve previously identified, is their slipperiness (unless one really does take Testimony as gospel) when it comes to pinning down what they’re really “about”. That’s why I’m with Taruskin when he says that the 8th String Quartet, far from being the pinnacle of DSCH’s oeuvre it’s often touted as being, is actually one of the weakest of his major works – it’s too nakedly a suicide note or self-memorial, and once one has fully familiarised oneself with it there’s nowhere else to go with it, really.
Weakest in this respect, I’d like to qualify – there’s obviously no weakness of technique at play. Perhaps “canonical” would have been a better word than “major”, for that matter. Ah, the dangers of writing last thing at night…
It can be a very self-limiting thing for a composer to do, to commit to a single interpretation of the notes on the page. One thing that gives Shostakovich’s best pieces their power and longevity, for example, despite the limited modes of expression you’ve previously identified, is their slipperiness (unless one really does take Testimony as gospel) when it comes to pinning down what they’re really “about”. That’s why I’m with Taruskin when he says that the 8th String Quartet, far from being the pinnacle of DSCH’s oeuvre it’s often touted as being, is actually one of the weakest of his major works – it’s too nakedly a suicide note or self-memorial, and once one has fully familiarised oneself with it there’s nowhere else to go with it, really.
Weakest in this respect, I’d like to qualify – there’s obviously no weakness of technique at play. Perhaps “canonical” would have been a better word than “major”, for that matter. Ah, the dangers of writing last thing at night…