wimpel69
12-01-2014, 05:19 PM
FLAC link below. This is my own rip.
Artwork & booklet included. Do not share. Buy the original!
Please leave a "Like" or "Thank you" if you enjoyed this!
The first and the best of Dmitri Shostakovich's three ballets was The Age of Gold.
Conceived in the artistic ferment of '20s Leningrad, when the avant-garde and the proletariat
were united in their opposition to fascism and the bourgeoisie, Shostakovich's score occupies
a middle ground between the unrelenting modernism of his Second and Third Symphonies
(1927 and 1929) and the light music populism of the Tahiti Trot (1927) and the Hypothetically
Murdered (1931).
Originally entitled Dyamiadia and based on an outline by the film director Alexander Ivanovsky,
the story of the ballet is, in its essence, a confrontation between the young, vigorous, and healthy
communist state embodied in a Soviet football team and the sickly and decadent capitalist state
embodied in the inhabitants of the Western city the team is visiting. As Shostakovich wrote in
the program book of the first performance (October 27, 1930):
"Throwing into contrast the two cultures was my main aim in the ballet. I approached this task
in the following way: the West European dances breathe the spirit of depraved eroticism which
is characteristic of contemporary bourgeois culture, but I tried to imbue the Soviet dances
with the wholesome elements of sport and physical culture.... I strove to write music that was
not only easy to dance to, but that was dramatically tense and underwent symphonic development."
Shostakovich succeeded in his goal: the characterization of the two cultures could not be
more distinct. However, Shostakovich does at times seem more attracted by the possibilities
of the Western forms he is ostensibly parodying than in the aerobics of the soccer team.
The "jazz" numbers in the first two acts -- the foxtrot and the infamous "Tahiti Trot" --
seem far more musically interesting than anything else in those acts. And the symphonic
elements of the score -- the soulful Adagio in the Act I and the whole of Act III -- are
more vital and powerful than the climactic Football match of Act II.
Apparently, Shostakovich succeeded insofar as his audience was concerned: The Age of
Gold ran for 18 performances over two years. The ballet was savaged by proletarian
critics and Shostakovich, while he was satisfied with his music, was disgruntled by the libretto
and the dancing. In the future, he vowed to work only on projects he considered artistically
valid. The Age of Gold remains Shostakovich's best composed and most aesthetically
successful ballet.
Music Composed by
Dmitri Shostakovich
Played by the
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Conducted by
Jos� Serebrier
"Once upon a time in America -- in an era when the Vienna serialists, Bart�k, and the
products of homegrown artists such as Ives and Antheil remained unknown, the distended,
crooked melodic line in Shostakovich's "Polka" from the ballet The Golden Age stood as
the ne plus ultra of irreverent modernism. While this piece, and the suite that brought
it to the world's concert halls, continued to be performed with frequency and as
representative of "Shostakovich," the ballet from which it came was nowhere to be
found for decade after decade. In 2006, the centenary of Shostakovich's birth, the
ballet The Golden Age remains a rara avis, in equal measures as obscure as its "Polka"
is famous. This Naxos recording of The Golden Age, featuring conductor Jos� Serebrier
and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, is only the second complete recording ever
made. It is very, very complete, taking all of the repeats in the "Polka" and adding Tahiti
Trot as an Entr'acte between the second and third acts, as conductor Alexander Gauk
did at the 1930 premiere.
Hardcore Shostakovich fans might note is how little The Golden Age -- with its spindly
textures, frequent allusions to pop music, and highly dissonant harmonic profile --
sounds like the Shostakovich they know. There is no evidence here of the lush
orchestration and heightened sense of tragedy familiar from his symphonies. However,
Jos� Serebrier is not confused about The Golden Age or the deliberately irreverent
Russian Futurist milieu to which it belongs and paints it crisply in the fresh, vivid,
and occasionally garish colors it needs. This Serebrier performance of Shostakovich's
The Golden Age is nonetheless a huge improvement over the curiously un-sparkling,
vaguely defined one made by Gennady Rozhdestvensky for Chandos that marked
the work's debut on records."
All Music
Download Link - https://mega.nz/#!wDRDGA5D!N2Z7u4UbwjGb-ui4D5A0-8cTyg_VHEUMC_7PX41yOBI />
Source: Naxos CDs, 2006 (my rip!)
Format: FLAC(RAR), DDD Stereo, Level: -5
File Size: 703 MB (incl. artwork & booklet)
Enjoy! Don't share! Buy the origina! Please leave a "Like" or "Thank you" if you enjoyed this! :)
Artwork & booklet included. Do not share. Buy the original!
Please leave a "Like" or "Thank you" if you enjoyed this!
The first and the best of Dmitri Shostakovich's three ballets was The Age of Gold.
Conceived in the artistic ferment of '20s Leningrad, when the avant-garde and the proletariat
were united in their opposition to fascism and the bourgeoisie, Shostakovich's score occupies
a middle ground between the unrelenting modernism of his Second and Third Symphonies
(1927 and 1929) and the light music populism of the Tahiti Trot (1927) and the Hypothetically
Murdered (1931).
Originally entitled Dyamiadia and based on an outline by the film director Alexander Ivanovsky,
the story of the ballet is, in its essence, a confrontation between the young, vigorous, and healthy
communist state embodied in a Soviet football team and the sickly and decadent capitalist state
embodied in the inhabitants of the Western city the team is visiting. As Shostakovich wrote in
the program book of the first performance (October 27, 1930):
"Throwing into contrast the two cultures was my main aim in the ballet. I approached this task
in the following way: the West European dances breathe the spirit of depraved eroticism which
is characteristic of contemporary bourgeois culture, but I tried to imbue the Soviet dances
with the wholesome elements of sport and physical culture.... I strove to write music that was
not only easy to dance to, but that was dramatically tense and underwent symphonic development."
Shostakovich succeeded in his goal: the characterization of the two cultures could not be
more distinct. However, Shostakovich does at times seem more attracted by the possibilities
of the Western forms he is ostensibly parodying than in the aerobics of the soccer team.
The "jazz" numbers in the first two acts -- the foxtrot and the infamous "Tahiti Trot" --
seem far more musically interesting than anything else in those acts. And the symphonic
elements of the score -- the soulful Adagio in the Act I and the whole of Act III -- are
more vital and powerful than the climactic Football match of Act II.
Apparently, Shostakovich succeeded insofar as his audience was concerned: The Age of
Gold ran for 18 performances over two years. The ballet was savaged by proletarian
critics and Shostakovich, while he was satisfied with his music, was disgruntled by the libretto
and the dancing. In the future, he vowed to work only on projects he considered artistically
valid. The Age of Gold remains Shostakovich's best composed and most aesthetically
successful ballet.
Music Composed by
Dmitri Shostakovich
Played by the
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Conducted by
Jos� Serebrier
"Once upon a time in America -- in an era when the Vienna serialists, Bart�k, and the
products of homegrown artists such as Ives and Antheil remained unknown, the distended,
crooked melodic line in Shostakovich's "Polka" from the ballet The Golden Age stood as
the ne plus ultra of irreverent modernism. While this piece, and the suite that brought
it to the world's concert halls, continued to be performed with frequency and as
representative of "Shostakovich," the ballet from which it came was nowhere to be
found for decade after decade. In 2006, the centenary of Shostakovich's birth, the
ballet The Golden Age remains a rara avis, in equal measures as obscure as its "Polka"
is famous. This Naxos recording of The Golden Age, featuring conductor Jos� Serebrier
and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, is only the second complete recording ever
made. It is very, very complete, taking all of the repeats in the "Polka" and adding Tahiti
Trot as an Entr'acte between the second and third acts, as conductor Alexander Gauk
did at the 1930 premiere.
Hardcore Shostakovich fans might note is how little The Golden Age -- with its spindly
textures, frequent allusions to pop music, and highly dissonant harmonic profile --
sounds like the Shostakovich they know. There is no evidence here of the lush
orchestration and heightened sense of tragedy familiar from his symphonies. However,
Jos� Serebrier is not confused about The Golden Age or the deliberately irreverent
Russian Futurist milieu to which it belongs and paints it crisply in the fresh, vivid,
and occasionally garish colors it needs. This Serebrier performance of Shostakovich's
The Golden Age is nonetheless a huge improvement over the curiously un-sparkling,
vaguely defined one made by Gennady Rozhdestvensky for Chandos that marked
the work's debut on records."
All Music
Download Link - https://mega.nz/#!wDRDGA5D!N2Z7u4UbwjGb-ui4D5A0-8cTyg_VHEUMC_7PX41yOBI
Source: Naxos CDs, 2006 (my rip!)
Format: FLAC(RAR), DDD Stereo, Level: -5
File Size: 703 MB (incl. artwork & booklet)
Enjoy! Don't share! Buy the origina! Please leave a "Like" or "Thank you" if you enjoyed this! :)