Shostakovich: Piano Sonata No. 1 / 24 Preludes

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Cat No: 8555781

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Release Date: 08 January 2003

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 747313578122

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: SHOSTAKOVICH

Description
Dmitry Shostakovich (1906-1975)24 Preludes, Op. 34 Aphorisms, Op. 13 Piano Sonata No.1, Op. 12Three Fantastic Dances, Op. 5When discussing the music of Dmitry Shostakovich, with itsfocussing on theatrical projects in his earlier years and symphonic worksthereafter, it is easy to forget the significance of his piano music as arepository for some of his most abstract and personal ideas. This is notsurprising, given that the composer was a prize-winner in the 1927 ChopinCompetition in Warsaw and appeared frequently, if often reluctantly, as anexponent of his own piano music and that of others, until restricted by illnessin the late 1950s. The present recording features Shostakovich's most importantpiano works, apart from the monumental cycle of 24 Preludes and Fugues [Naxos8.554745-6] and the Second Piano Sonata, their often radical tendencies fittingin well with the heady years of artistic experimentation in the Soviet Union,before the cultural clampdown, with the imposition of the principles ofSocialist Realism. Composed in the spring of 1922, the Fantastic Dances werepublished four years later, and for the greater part of the composer's liferemained the one piece from before his First Symphony in general circulation.Shostakovich himself gave the premi?¿re in Moscow on 20th March 1925, andperformed the pieces on numerous subsequent occasions. His affection is easy tounderstand as, though they show few of his later stylistic traits, theliveliness of his musical mind is fully in evidence. A mischievous-soundingAllegretto in C major is followed by the insouciant waltz of an Andantino in Gmajor, concluding with the lively polka of a further Allegretto in C major. The radical tendencies in Shostakovich's music, held inrigorous check by the First Symphony [Naxos 8.550623], erupt uninhibitedly inthe First Piano Sonata, composed during September and October 1926. The workwas originally subtitled 'October', a description transferred to the SecondSymphony [Naxos 8.550624], but whose implied conflict is evident in thesonata's attempts to ground itself in the key of C major. This is apparent atthe opening, when, amid a maelstrom of atonal figuration, C major soundsbizarrely against the dissonance. Brusque descending scales focus activity inthe bass register, from where intricate contrapuntal passage-work effects areturn to the opening material. A Lento section brings the only prolonged calmin the whole work, though its sense of tonal and textural 'floating' does notmean corresponding repose. A running bass line duly leads to a final outburstof seething energy, whose hammered C sharps brutally undermine any attempt at aC major resolution. Experimentalism of a different sort permeates the Aphorisms,ten recalcitrant miniatures written between 25th February and 7th April 1927.An absence of anything approaching classical poise may have been encouraged bythe radical composer and theorist Bol
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