Russian-speakers: What is Shostakovich saying in this video?

October 6, 2014 1:06 PM

I wonder if some kind Russian-speaker could translate what Dmitri Shostakovich and Gennady Rozhdestvensky (I couldn't fit both their names into the title) are saying in this short YouTube clip. Alternatively, if an English transcript is already available somewhere and I've missed it, I'd be most grateful if you could point me toward it. Thanks!

I hope to learn Russian myself one day, but at the moment (to paraphrase Louis Jordan) when I have the time I don't have the money, and when I have the money I don't have the time.

posted by Perodicticus potto to Writing & Language (3 answers total)

Near as I can tell, at about the 45 second mark he's talking about the tempo of the piece.

At around 1:30, when he seems the most upset, he says, "They're not listening to me," or "They didn't listen to me."

At around 1:50 when he touches his ears, he says, "I can't hear."

My Russian is a bit rusty.
posted by zizzle at 10:23 AM on October 7, 2014 [1 favorite]

There's a lot of talk there and it would be a lot of work to translate. It's not especially gripping shop talk (the much-repeated первый такт [pervyi takt] means 'first bar/measure'); if you're seriously interested in exactly what they're saying, you'd do best to pay a professional to take the necessary time and trouble to transcribe and translate it.
posted by languagehat at 12:37 PM on October 7, 2014 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks guys, and apologies if the request seemed presumptuous - I wasn't sure how difficult it would be.
posted by Perodicticus potto at 12:47 PM on October 7, 2014