Looking again at Shostakovich 4

Abstract

When this article was first mooted, Shostakovich was alive and working—on a Sixteenth Symphony. Quite apart from one's personal feelings about the man, the death of such an artist is bound to affect one's relationship with his work. At its simplest, this is the end of the line, the closing of the frontier; the knowledge that the old will not again be ‘modified’ by the new. For the first time, there is the possibility of seeing the work as a whole. However, so far as I am aware, the principal way in which the new situation has a bearing on this article is entirely non-productive: I find myself wondering in a rather different way how much we shall ever know of the discussions and heart-searching that preceded the withdrawal of the Fourth Symphony and the composition of the Fifth. Did Shostakovich leave any diaries, or a personal memoir, or …? But my intentions are strictly factual; as factual, that is, as critical scrutiny can make them.

Regional history. The Scottish Region of the Analytical Division of the RSC (formerly The Scottish Section of the Society of Public Analysts and other Analytical Chemists)

“…He was an energetic Secretary, an enthusiastic Chairman, and was the person mainly responsible for bringing SAC 83 to Edinburgh. He has an outstanding reputation as an Analytical Chemist, recognised by the 2nd SAC Silver Medal in1974 and the 17th SAC Gold Medal in 1984, by his election as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and by his appointment to a Chair by the University of Strathclyde. In addition, he is the Chairman of the RSC Analytical Editorial Board.…”