The love of my life, Dmitri.

Look what I got today! It's so exciting!

Yes, that's right. It's a recording of the USSR Ministry of Culture Orchestra playing Shostakovich's symphony no. 1, and symphonies no. 3-6. And half of the notes are in Russian, and it's just absolutely fantastic. See?

I started listening to the Fifth Symphony (my favorite, pictured above) but it was so warped that I just couldn't stand to listen to it. I guess that's what happens with old vinyl. However, I'm listening to the First Symphony right now and it sounds great. Shostakovich wrote this when he was still in school, when he was only a little older than I am now.

The reason why I love this so much is because I'm writing a paper on Shostakovich's relationship with Stalin and Soviet Russia for my European history class, and it's fascinating. Because of the lack of concrete evidence from Shostakovich's life, there is a historical debate about his true allegiances. If you're interested, try reading Shostakovich: A Life by Laurel Fay (buy it here).

Okay, now the First Symphony just skipped back to the beginning. These records seriously have problems. But I'm listening to the Fourth now and, so far, it's going great! The first movement kind of reminds me of the last movement of the Fifth; but it's very military. Less "life-affirming," as his work was so often described. Though most of his music is dark, emotional, and melancholy, he is a master of the optimistic finale (see the end of the Fifth Symphony).