خطوط سفید، صفوف سیاه

،همین ها

،همین خودعلامه پندارها

،همین تحلیلگرها، کارشناس ها، درس خوانده  ها

 ،همین ها که بسیار هستند و همیشه در صحنه حاضر

:همین ها نماد مشکلات ایران امروز هستند.

.کسانی که خود را همیشه صاحب تئوری معرفی کرده اند و از دکترینی به دکترینی دیگر درحال مهاجرت و تولید تز هستند

،همین ها که نقد جن هست و وجود پاک ایشان بسم اله

،همین تفلون هایی که هیچ انتقادی به ساحت مطهرشان نمی چسبد

.در حباب نخبگانی(!) خویش چنان فرو رفته اند که با  درد و مصیبت  مردمان غریبه شده اند... 

.لبخند می زنند حال آن که در دل به آلام رنج دیدگان میخندند.

.به برکت وجود مستمرشان در طی بیش از چهار دهه، بی وقفه، وهن اخلاق را به تماشا نشسته ایم

Shostakovich Symphony No. 5

 

The theme of my symphony is the making of a man. I saw Man with all his experiences in the center of the composition, which is lyrical in form from beginning to end. The finale is the optimistic solution of the tragically tense moments of the first movement. 

 Shostakovich on Symphony No. 5

Background:

Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 is a masterpiece. The symphony was premiered in 1937. This period was the peak of soviet censorship instigated by the USSR regime.
 Pravda condemned his opera "Lady Macbeth of the Mitsenk District" as unpatriotic and dissonant and heaped ferocious attacks on the composer, simply calling it "Muddle, not Music!" on the front page review. Overnight he was marginalized by authorities who were in charge of aesthetic idealism. The fifth symphony was conceived under these insecure circumstances. Fifth is the result of fear and trembling for his very survival and avoiding the doomed fate of exile to concentration camps. The pressure combined with Shostakovich's character led to a cryptic score which on one hand should show his ideological rehabilitation in the eyes of party-approved ultranationalist style. On the other hand, he needed to satisfy his own artistic. Therefore, he opted for a Beethoven model for this symphony: Starting boldly as a sonata.

First movement: Moderato

The first movement starts with a sonata in the vein of Beethoven's tradition but this time in a hesitant and uncertain mood. By the third bar, the music undergoes a stylistically radical shift: an abrupt break-off and a downward wiggle toward a dead-end with a triple note repetition. This sequence of apprehensive start, retraction, and dead-end is repeated throughout the symphony.
The next theme is an E♭ minor folk-driven with a slight variation implemented. This simple change is the masterstroke of thematic change via slight subtle twists. This sort of subtle manipulation is characteristic of Shostakovoch's works. 
The middle section of the first movement shows a drastic change in instrumentation, with piano and bases lurching in with the dead-end theme then winds, brass, and percussion. This generates a militaristic vibe similar to parts of Overture 1812 by Tchaikovsky. Then you hear the pile-up of various tunes as they eventually fade into the strong dominant dead-end tune played by brass and percussion. Then hushly all the tunes return and the opening tune repeats with trumpet and tympani, as a premonition of what is to come in the next movements. 

Second movement: Allegretto

This epitomizes the composer's wry sense of humor pointing at his critics. It is a scherzo with a goofy vibe, a spoof on waltzes. The movement is also a hommage to Gustav Mahler (one of Shostakcich's favorites) with solos played by the first violin and flute or clarinet generating the dance imagery accompanying it.

Third movement: Largo

To the dislike of the purge-era Soviet regime, this melancholic movement struck a chord with a casual listener, conjuring the sensations of despair and longing. The third movement is a mourning for those who died, Stalin's victims. References to the Russian Orthodox liturgy are also noticeable. Here the strings are played in a way that resembles a choir. Shostakovich did this by dividing the strings into different sections. Then we have the oboe accompanied faintly by strings which is probably the saddest tune in the whole symphony. Then double basses lurch in, accompanied by strings leading to the dead-end notes again. The movement closes on a high note, with a ghostly vibe played by harp, piano, and strings. 

Fourth movement: Allegro non troppo

Starts with many march-like themes, slowly gaining pace as the movement progresses. This parade-like vibe broadly resembles Mahler's tradition (again!) in composing finales. As one expects, the symphony needed an upbeat and cheerful ending. At first glance, this seems to be a forced prosaic ending for an otherwise masterfully written symphony. But the master is at work again conjuring up layers of subtle textures. A slow march pays homage to the opera Boris Gudonov where masses praise the tsar. However, this one is bleak and a slow march. In the more upbeat part, Shostakovich deliberately altered a note again and completely changed the mood of the music. This time an alteration from B natural to B ♭ does the magic! It may look bizarre in the context of happy-ending tunes, but this is deliberately executed by the composer. The whole new minor tone foreshadows the preceding upbeat part of the movement. 

My take:

Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony is a prime example of artistic resilliance and defiance in the face of calamity and censorship. Where individuality had to be sacrificed in the name of patriotic nationalist aesthetic. Shostakovich to me epitomizes working under impossible conditions and having the cutting-edge prowess to please both sides: he includes the cosmetics to satisfy the harsh criteria of an oppressive regime, Meanwhile, he manages to insert the subtle elements to keep the music authentic. The fifth symphony fakes glory and buys him some time to breathe with standard glorious movements placed in it. But the music hints at a tragic underlying story with multiple tunes and tricks inserted masterfully in it.

Socially conscious artists reflect on society and its afflictions. They give tongue to those who were silent or were made silent. They picture an era for those who could not witness or closed their eyes on it. Similarly, Shostakovich's music mirrors his era; living under constant threats and brave masks that people were forced to wear. We are lucky that a genius lived and dared to work under immense pressure and duress. He worked and left a body of work which are quite diverse and influenced by various inspirations. From his chamber music, trios, and string quartets to symphonies to his experiments with jazz music following his trip to the US, this massive body of work shares one characteristic of social awareness. Symphony number five is an emotionally charged and complex masterpiece with hidden layers of meaning.

The Fault Line of Democracy

China may have invented the first printing press in 593 and published the first woodblock-printed newspaper, Kaiyuan Za Bao, in Beijing in 713. But in 2010 it wants to curb the newest information innovation led by Google.
To avoid censorship, Google has moved its search engine to Hong Kong and may leave China altogether after hackers, hidden for deniability somewhere deep within the Communist bureaucracy, breached Google’s proprietary systems and pieced together the e-mail exchanges of Chinese dissidents in order to trace their social networks.
Clearly a clash is shaping up that pits the raucous free-for-all of the Internet against China’s long-standing Confucian proclivity for order, respect for authority and a conformist notion of social harmony.
As they try to rebalance a relationship in which China still largely depends on American consumption of its exports and the United States largely relies on China’s purchase of U.S. Treasury debt, these tightly tethered partners in prosperity will only intensify their interaction in the coming decade. Inevitably, as the geo-civilizational plates push up against one another and produce tremors, might the cultural equivalent of subduction take place? Might, for example, more appreciation for freedom of expression shift Eastward and a greater appreciation of governing in the common interest and long-term perspective shift Westward?
To be sure, there is much cultural history under the bridge of today’s interdependence that contributes to the tectonic pace of convergence. China’s ancient “Warring States” period ended with a commitment to unified territorial integrity and stability that led to a modern focus on political control and social harmony. The path to peace after the West’s religious wars led to the opposite ideals: tolerance and diversity. In the Confucian tradition, China has relied on ethics, including obligations of the ruler to the ruled, and education to keep its institutions responsive, fair and honest. The West has relied on the check of democracy.
Nonetheless, as the political philosopher Daniel A. Bell proposes, some common ground can be envisaged along the fault lines.
Counterintuitive as it may sound to the Western ear, China may be more open to fundamental political reform than the United States. Since the rule of law in America is based upon the notion that the state itself is constrained by a body of pre-existing law that is sovereign, any thought of rewriting the Constitution is anathema.
In China, however, some intellectuals point out that Communist Party theory posits that the current system is the “primary stage of socialism,” meaning that it is a transitional phase to a higher and more superior form of socialism. The economic foundation will change with broader prosperity, and thus the legal and political superstructure must also change.
That has led some contemporary Confucian scholars to argue that new institutions for the higher stage of development should be designed based on indigenous sources of legitimacy from within the Chinese experience — meritocratic knowledge of the governing class, the people and tradition.
Mr. Bell, who teaches at Tsinghua University in Beijing, has taken these ideas a bit further. He envisions a meritocratic upper house whose members are chosen not by election, but examination; an elected national democratic legislature that advises the upper house on “preferences;” direct elections up to the provincial level, and freedom of the press. The “symbolic leader of the state” would be chosen from among the most august members of the meritocratic house.
Such a formulation and others similar to it — about which there is a rich debate across China today — sticks to the Confucian idea of meritocratic government mitigated by popular accountability, but not completely ruled by it. This seems precisely the kind of non-Western political modernization we will see as China adopts its own form of democracy.
China desperately needs such a system of accountability to stem the arbitrariness, corruption and cronyism that have accompanied the primary stage of socialism. Yet such an approach as put forth by Mr. Bell seems likely to also maintain stability in a way that parliamentary democracy of the West might not, and thus would be an acceptable course of change in China.
Paradoxically, while Chinese intellectuals seek to expand democratic accountability as the poor become more educated and prosperous, the U.S. has the opposite problem: Too much short-term focus by the citizens of the prosperous consumer democracies is undermining long-term sustainability.
Thus, while institutional innovation in China might focus on a truly empowered — yet checked — elected house, the U.S. would benefit from the type of long-term deliberation offered by bodies such as a meritocratic upper house and some entity with the responsibility for continuity of governance that stands as a unifying symbol in an ever more diverse society.
During the first round of globalization at the turn of the 20th Century, Sun Yat Sen tried to blend the institutions of Western democracy with Confucian meritocracy. Perhaps today, as the “rise of the rest” challenges Western dominance, the political imagination may again be open to new ideas. This time, it won’t be just Western ideas flowing East, but Eastern ideas flowing West as well.


by : Nicolas Berggruen and Nathan Gardels