Shostakovich / Schnittke: Piano Quintets

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Cat No: 8554830

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Release Date: 08 January 2002

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 636943483022

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: SHOSTAKOVICH / SCHNITTKE

Description
Dmitry Shostakovich (1906-1975) • Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998)Piano QuintetsAs the leading Soviet composers of the mid- and late twentieth century, Dmitry Shostakovich (1906- 1975) and Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) shared certain characteristics: musically, a frequent recourse to symphonic writing, with fifteen and nine symphonies respectively; socially, having to endure constant pressure from the authorities, whether the ruthless directives of Stalin, or the repressive conformism of Brezhnev. While Schnittke never studied with the older composer, his assuming of Shostakovich’s mantle was something he himself was aware of, and nowhere is the connection between the two more apparent than in the piano quintets, written at relative turning-points in their careers. For Shostakovich, this meant the consolidation of a more classical approach to large-scale form in the wake of his Fifth Symphony, for Schnittke, the arrival at a pluralist approach to composition, with the old and the new held in free and often provocative association. Shostakovich began his Piano Quintet during the summer of 1940, completing it on 14th September. Written with himself and the Beethoven Quartet in mind, the work was first performed by them in Moscow on 23rd November. After the mixed reception accorded his Sixth Symphony the previous December, the success of the Piano Quintet was widespread and lasting. On 16th March 1941 it was awarded the Stalin Prize, and was for many years regarded more highly in the West than any of the symphonies. Shostakovich continued to perform the work until illness curtailed his concert appearances at the end of the 1950s. The five-movement form was subsequently pursued in the Eighth Symphony and Third String Quartet of 1943 and 1946 respectively. The Prelude opens with a deliberate chord of G minor, the piano’s declamatory theme provoking an impassioned response from the strings. The piano leads off with a flowing melody over a stepwise accompaniment, with a sequence of counter-melodies on solo strings. At length, the initial tempo and expression are restored, a modified version of the initial theme invites intensive dialogue, with which the movement ends. A brief pause, and the Fugue opens with the theme on first violin. The remaining strings enter in stages, building up an elegiac web of sound, to which the piano adds a bass line. This continues unaccompanied, the strings re-entering as the dialogue intensifies, culminating in a modified recall of the work’s initial gesture. The music quietens, and the elegiac mood from the outset resumes, moving inevitably into a resigned coda. The Scherzo is launched over a chugging accompaniment, the piano conjuring up a witty theme which interacts teasingly with the strings. The first trio section has a flighty, gypsy-like air; the second involves playful pizzicato. The main theme concludes the movement in boisterous humour. The Intermezzo opens with a plaintive violin melody ove
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