How do you describe good music?
There are similarities with all good art of course. We recognise it immediately for a start. The conundrum remains though - there is good art and there is great art. On Sunday 31st March a concert was held in the Arts Gallery where music of Hayden, Kats-Chernan and Shostakovitch was played by the Strelitzia Ensemble of Cello, Violin and Piano. Haden was alright but his piece was from nearly at the end of his life and Kats-Chenan was copying Shostakovitch. The highlight of the afternoon was obviously the music by Shostakovitch. It is easy to comprehend great art when listening to Shostakovitch. Shostakovitch is considered by some to be the greatest composer of the 20th Century and maybe he is. He was caught up in the siege of Leningrad and although the music we heard was composed in 1944 after he had been evacuated from Leningrad he must had had the siege in his thoughts as he composed the music. His music sounds modern – it could be said that the music explores the human nervous system and sounds on edge - it has scratchy sounding notes – it is always in a minor key - it has dissident sounding chords – it has fractured sounding chords – it has chords that do not sound like chords – it has piano notes that jar – the violin sounds on edge - almost tinny - it all sounds very Russian if there is such a thing. But somehow the music comes together as a total work of art. It carries you along in a joyful powerful way. Nothing jars. The audience is caught up in the totality of the work. As in a great painting Shostakovitch spreads the music across the canvas in a totally balanced way. The music is complete and the audience understands this. While the work is in progress time is suspended. There will be further concerts later in the year. The public should look out fro them.
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