Editing Dmitri Shostakovich (section)

=== Reputation ===
According to McBurney, opinion is divided on whether Shostakovich's music is "of visionary power and originality, as some maintain, or, as others think, derivative, trashy, empty and second-hand".{{sfnp|McBurney|2002|p=283}} [[William Walton]], his British contemporary, described him as "the greatest composer of the 20th century".<ref>''British Composers in Interview'' by [[R. Murray Schafer]] (Faber 1960).</ref> Musicologist [[David Fanning (musicologist)|David Fanning]] concludes in Grove's Dictionary that "Amid the conflicting pressures of official requirements, the mass suffering of his fellow countrymen, and his personal ideals of humanitarian and public service, he succeeded in forging a musical language of colossal emotional power."{{sfnp|The New Grove|2001|p=280}}

Some modern composers have been critical. [[Pierre Boulez]] dismissed Shostakovich's music as "the second, or even third pressing of [[Gustav Mahler|Mahler]]".{{sfnp|McBurney|2002|p=288}} The Romanian composer and [[Anton Webern|Webern]] disciple [[Philip Gershkovich]] called Shostakovich "a&nbsp;hack in a trance".{{sfnp|McBurney|2002|p=290}} A related complaint is that Shostakovich's style is vulgar and strident: [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky]] wrote of ''[[Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (opera)|Lady Macbeth]]'': "brutally hammering&nbsp;... and monotonous".{{sfnp|McBurney|2002|p=286}} English composer and musicologist [[Robin Holloway]] described his music as "battleship-grey in melody and harmony, factory-functional in structure; in content all rhetoric and coercion".<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Holloway|first=Robin|author-link=Robin Holloway|date=26 August 2000|title=Shostakovich horrors|magazine=[[The Spectator]]|page=41|url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/26th-august-2000/41/music|access-date=29 June 2015}}</ref>

In the 1980s the Finnish conductor and composer [[Esa-Pekka Salonen]] was critical of Shostakovich and refused to conduct his music. For instance he said in 1987:

{{blockquote|Shostakovich is in many ways a polar counter-force for Stravinsky. ... When I have said that the 7th symphony of Shostakovich is a dull and unpleasant composition, people have responded: "Yes, yes, but think of the background of that symphony." Such an attitude does no good to anyone.<ref>[[Esa-Pekka Salonen|Salonen, Esa-Pekka]] and {{ill|Lauri Otonkoski|fi|lt=Otonkoski, Lauri}}: ''Kirja – puhetta musiikitta'', p. 73. Helsinki: Tammi. {{ISBN|978-951-30-6599-7}}</ref>}}

Salonen has since performed and recorded several of Shostakovich's works,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://theartsdesk.com/node/4355/view |title=BBC Proms: Batiashvili, Philharmonia Orchestra, Salonen |last=Brown |first=Ismene |date=17 August 2011 |website=theartsdesk.com|location=Esher |access-date=25 November 2019}}</ref> including leading the world premiere of ''[[Orango (Shostakovich)|Orango]]'',<ref>''Orango Prologue; Symphony No. 4'', [[Esa-Pekka Salonen|Salonen]], [[Los Angeles Philharmonic]], [[Los Angeles Master Chorale]], [[Deutsche Grammophon]] 2012 {{OCLC|809867885}}</ref> but has dismissed the [[Symphony No. 5 (Shostakovich)|Fifth Symphony]] as "overrated", adding that he was "very suspicious of heroic things in general".<ref>{{cite web |title=Facing the music: Esa-Pekka Salonen: The conductor and composer on lighting, left arms, Berg and Björk |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/nov/23/esa-pekka-salonen-conductor-composer-facing-the-music |website=[[The Guardian]]|date=23 November 2015 |access-date=8 September 2020}}</ref>

Shostakovich borrows extensively from the material and styles both of earlier composers and of [[popular music]]; the vulgarity of "low" music is a notable influence on this "greatest of eclectics".{{sfnp|Haas|2000|p=125}} McBurney traces this to the [[avant-garde]] artistic circles of the early Soviet period in which Shostakovich moved early in his career, and argues that these borrowings were a deliberate technique to allow him to create "patterns of contrast, repetition, exaggeration" that gave his music large-scale structure.{{sfnp|McBurney|2002|p=295}}