Chess and Music

Rene and Georgette Magritte,
With their dog after the war,
Returned to their hotel suite
And they unlocked the door.
Easily losing their evening clothes,
They dance by the light of the moon
To The Penguins,
The Moonglows,
The Orioles,
and The Five Satins,
The deep forbidden music
They'd been longing for.
Rene and Georgette Magritte
With their dog after the war.
          -Paul Simon

     When it comes to music, my tastes are purely plebian. Appreciation of classical music, just like that of chess, is partially dependent on a certain level of education in that area, or, in the least, greater understanding leads to greater appreciation. Appreciation of the historical significance requires much less commitment. That's my cue.

     Among my favorite books on chess history are those by Genna Sosonko who wrote predominately about Soviet chess players, mostly in the post-Stalin era. There's something about the paradox of creativity in a repressive society that gives his stories a poignancy most other chess stories lack. During the Stalin years things were exponentially worse and the juxtaposition of creative minds against such a backdrop is especially stark. Whether it's chess, music or literature, there's a yearning for truth and beauty that transcends any societal restrictions, but in a society that demands conformity to official doctrines, the paths to truth and beauty can often be quite subtle and convoluted. Dimitri Shostakovich is considered by some to be the greatest of Soviet composers. Forced to strive under that paradox where the state demands great results but, at the same time, fetters the the creative process and dictates the acceptable expression of that process, it's quite possible that Shostakovich, as with other Soviet artists who served the State as well as Art, was compelled to reach even deeper inside himself and produce greater work than he might have in a freer society.

     Shostakovich's relationship with chess was far more casual than that of Prokofiev or Oistrakh, but it's certainly worth noting especially since his Waltz No. 2 from Jazz Suite No. 2 is featured in the Nabokov-inspired chess film, The Luzhin Defence, and appears as two separate tracks on the soundtrack album.

     My schizophrenic ramblings above, hopefully, serve as counterpoint to the more structured and formal  documentation Shostakovich's chess play sent to me a decade ago  by Lawrence Totaro, formerly of "Ultimate Chess Collecting":

in our library, besides the symphonies, are a six CD set of his String Quartets and every one a gem. it's hard for me to not believe Shostakovich's story. if the story is a fabrication by him then i simply wonder at "how come ?"

thank B G for the Paul Simon words and another fine article

What a coincidence?

I put up a pieve of Shosta's today.

A really great musician, but some of his music is grotesque, even ugly, but always compelling. But the energy you describe is always there. 

Only someone who really knew suffering could write like that.

Thanks. I thought it might be a worthwhile 10 year anniversary posting

 i have heard that because of his popularity, Dimitri was not "purged" by Stalin, but was shipped off to an out in the boonies music school where he had to be very "low key". he was a fan of Jazz and wrote some nice compositions in that form as well.  i have yet to hear an "ugly" tune from him.

I don't have a reference but I heard that they hooked up some master level chess players brains to FMRI and the results were that the areas deployed for chess were the same areas used for art and music, the creative areas, and not the areas used for logic/reasoning as one may expect.....my own experience when I ran a local chess club for about 10+ years was that the artists and musicians were harder to beat than the math and science teachers????? which I did not expect, but it happened.....

Skinner and Verhoeven do not have any games between Alekhine and Shostakovich. A forgotten game I really like is from a simul at the 'cafe de la regence' - now sadly closed down, between Lasker and Prokofiev.

Lasker was 64 at the time. Thanks batgirl!!

Worth waitin' 10 years for.

I'll wait for you a 1000 summers, and endure a 1000 winters.

Waxing lyrical.

NIRVANA -Live in reading 1992 

Holy Katz Bishop_e3.......Chessmate, thanks for the mighty fine "Second Waltz" with.... Chess Figures providing the Movement       

Sorry for your loss, Batman will always be in our hearts, our thoughts are with you: Bat-Signal shines in honour of Batman star Adam West - BBC News

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-40286810

Long live all the other Batmen: Michael Keaton, George Clooney, Christian Bale, Ben Affleck & all the Batgirls too.

https://youtu.be/uWnKMzAedK4

Where's the fans of sophisticated heavy metal?

Many years ago at a martini bar of an upper class neighborhood  my ears were treated to Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence by Dream Theater. The second half of that whole song (degrees 4-6) ASTOUNDED ME.

 Another member from Genesis with a successful solo career is Peter Gabriel, here with Kate Bush, Don't give up:

Surprise no put one night in ?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgc_LRjlbTU

Great forum here! I just wanted to share a video I made with regard to the famous 20th century composer Sergei Prokofiev and his love for the game. It goes into the history of his chess playing.

Thanks mate!👍