Nothing yet, but last night I did the "monthly ear recalibration" by attending a performance by the Haddonfield Symphony Orchestra. The program was Shoshtakovich "Symphony No.11 (the year 1905)". Sixty-five minutes spead across 4 movements. It never ceases to amaze me how the evocative power of music can paint a picture every bit as clear as a portrait.
Symphony No.11 tells the story of the 1905 revolution, which set the stage for the 1917 revolution that brought down the Czar. What started out as a peaceful protest by peasants in front of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, ended that cold January day with the deaths, at the hands of the Czar's troops, of 1200 mostly women and children. Their deaths only took a matter of an hour or so, at which time a soft heavy snow began to fall, eventually covering over all the bodies, erasing the grisley scene in the square. Very moving.
Symphony No.11 tells the story of the 1905 revolution, which set the stage for the 1917 revolution that brought down the Czar. What started out as a peaceful protest by peasants in front of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, ended that cold January day with the deaths, at the hands of the Czar's troops, of 1200 mostly women and children. Their deaths only took a matter of an hour or so, at which time a soft heavy snow began to fall, eventually covering over all the bodies, erasing the grisley scene in the square. Very moving.