Shostakovich composed
his 24 Preludes Op.34
between December 1932 and March 1933.
This was after he had completed his
large-scale opera Lady Macbeth
of Mtsensk; the cause of Stalin’s
anger. This varied and contrasted set
of short character pieces inhabits a
completely different sound-world although
many typical Shostakovich hallmarks
abound. The music is by turns lyrical
and ironic, dreamy and grotesque, with
many glances back at the works of Haydn,
Chopin and Prokofiev as well as whimsical
allusions to popular dance rhythms.
The whole set is agreeably varied and
very attractive, and its moods are worlds
apart from the usual troubled mien of
his major chamber works. On the whole,
Shostakovich’s chamber music gives the
true image of the composer’s innermost
being, much more so than some of his
more overtly ‘public’ works. That said
his symphonies from early on in his
career never really fitted in the Socialist
Realism’s mould favoured by the Regime
and slavishly endorsed by many lesser
composers. Moreover, Shostakovich often
managed to avoid the Regime’s hostility
by adopting a rather ambiguous attitude.
A good example of this is the hugely
popular Fifth Symphony which is wrapped
in a superficially ‘politically correct’
guise, but nevertheless open to various
interpretations. The backbone of his
chamber music consists of his large
set of string quartets (probably one
of his greatest achievements), the piano
trios, the Piano Quintet and his three
sonatas (cello, violin and viola). It
is in these works that he gives full
expression to his deepest feelings.
In the case of the Violin Sonata
Op.134 and the Viola Sonata
Op.147 these reflect his intense
and disillusioned state of mind at the
end of his life.
Though written as a
tribute to David Oistrakh on his 60th
birthday, the Violin Sonata
is a bleak, mostly desperate piece of
music, in much the same vein as the
equally bleak Fifteenth String Quartet
and Fourteenth Symphony. It opens with
a long, desolate and sorrowful Andante
followed by a short, grotesque Scherzo.
The last movement, again predominantly
slow, opens in a deeply melancholic
mood. The music gathers momentum, and
the accumulated tension is suddenly
unleashed in a hectic cadenza for piano
and a frantic cadenza for violin. The
coda, though somewhat appeased, does
not bring any real solace at all.
The Viola Sonata,
Shostakovich’s last completed work,
is, if anything, even bleaker and more
desperate than its predecessor. The
composer briefly re-visits some of his
earlier works such as The Gamblers,
The Execution of Stepan Razin
and his early Suite for two Pianos
and includes a quote from Beethoven’s
Mondschein sonata. In
his enigmatic Fifteenth Symphony, the
composer also included many allusions,
near-quotes and quotes from other composers’
works, including those of Rossini and
Wagner. As with most of Shostakovich’s
late works, the Violin Sonata and the
Viola Sonata are sparse and allusive,
asking many questions but ultimately
answering very few. One is left speculating
about the possible ‘meaning’ of these
works. What is clear, though, is Shostakovich’s
often pessimistic frame of mind a propensity
that had been present for most of his
life.
Three years after the
publication of the 24 Preludes
Op.34, Lev Oborin suggested
that Dmitry Tzyganov, violinist and
founder of the Beethoven Quartet, should
arrange some of the preludes for violin
and piano. He first arranged four preludes
(No.10 – C sharp minor, No.15 – D flat
major, No.16 – B flat major and No.24
– D minor). These were performed by
him and the composer to great acclaim.
Obviously, Shostakovich encouraged him
to go on with the other preludes. He
thus arranged another set of ten and
a third set of five, leaving No.4 (E
minor), No.7 (A major), No.9 (E major),
No.14 (E flat major) and No.23 (F major)
untouched because he thought them too
‘piano oriented’ and thus unfit for
such arrangement. Bezverkhny and Sergeyenya
met the challenge for this recording,
and I find the result very rewarding
and successful. Theirs and Tzyganov’s
arrangements work remarkably well. Incidentally
Bezverkhny, who was awarded the First
Prize in the 1976 Queen Elisabeth Competition
in Brussels, played some of them during
the finals in May 1976, and that performance
is available in the 12 CD box released
by Cyprès (CYP
9612) that I reviewed here a few
years ago. It is surprising that they
are not heard more often.
On the whole, this
is a most welcome release: two major
late works and the fine set of 24
Preludes Op.34 in the original
piano version and in the arrangement
for violin and piano. The performances
are generally very fine, and I particularly
enjoyed Sergeyenya’s reading of the
Preludes which were new to me. The recording
is generally quite good, although at
times a bit too close. You can hear
Bezverkhny’s groans and moans during
the cadenza in the third movement of
the Violin Sonata which some may find
distracting. This reservation should
not deter fans of Shostakovich from
investigating this generously filled
disc.
Hubert Culot
Mikhail Bezverkhny (violin, viola); Timur
Sergeyenya (piano) 