Repertoire: Shostakovich's EPIC 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87
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- Опубликовано: 30 сен 2020
- For most listeners, this true magnum opus, as performed by Tatiana Nikolayeva, was one of the great discoveries of the 1990s. Most of us had no idea that Shostakovich had written such great music for piano, but since Nikolayeva introduced it to us several superb pianists have taken on the work, each revealing something unique about it. Here they are.
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Ashkenazy is one of my favourite pianists. Much more than a conductor. There is strength in his tone. Especially in his quiet playing. There’s depth behind every note he plays…
Thanks for your review of this major composition. It’s a reminder for me of how great the 20th Century was in producing incredible music.
Thanks, David. Shostakovich is one of my favorite composers and his Op. 87 is just an amazing work.
Greetings from Chile!
Thank you too! Greetings from Brooklyn!
once again, thank you, David. have learned so much from you. invaluable information.
Lovely new performances! Thank you.
Ashkenazy's set was a revelation to me! Although I knew he was a fine Shostakovich interpreter, not least from his recording of the Piano Quintet with the Fitzwilliams on Decca, we tend to forget he's lost none of his pianistic ability. Great stuff!
The A major fugue really gave me a different look into him as a composer .a whole other side. So ethereal to my ear. It is one of my treasured piano pieces.
It may or may not be the best, I always listen when the composer plays their own work.
Another recent cycle that's worth hearing is from Peter Donohoe on Signum. It's not so consistent as those of Jenny Lin or Konstantin Scherbakov, yet Donohoe's best moments struck me as revelatory: such as his unusually dance-like and truly "legatissimo" B-flat Minor Fugue, or how Donohoe's more emphatic than usual arpeggiated accompaniment in the D Major Prelude uncovers counterlines that many pianists tend to gloss over.
Thanks, I'll check that one out as well. Love to see you in a video discussion with David of any piano repertoire!
I've enjoyed your recommendation of Keith Jarrett for these pieces for a few years. Keith is so intelligent and engaging in Jazz, but who knew he could crossover?!
I'm a fan of Pipo as co-host, but I think there's room for one more in a zoom on piano.
@@BryanHalo123 yes he is a good classical pianist
i agree with you and happy to have sponsored two of Jenny Lin's recitals and two of her cds. After reading your 10/10 review i bought it and was introduced to her work as this is my favorite piano music of all. I ended up meeting her and became a friend though I have seen her since the Steinway Hall recital I sponsored. Many thanks.
It is funny you mention lending her a tam tam as when I sponsored her recital in Singapore I asked if she could play the Ketelby as an encore and I played the gong part. I don’t read music so I memorised when to hit it. It was a lot of fun for me to pretend to be a musician. It is posted on You Tube.
Came back to this post to get your take again on the Shostakovich piano music. PS, i just finished William T. Vollmann's "Europe Central", in which Shostakovich's life is explored in depth. It's a long work,
and superb. Thanks again for your insights.
Very good to hear several comparative renditions. I love this piece, and the fugue you played at the end is my very favorite part of the work. Transcendent. I like to say of that fugue, if you want to take a brief trip to Heaven, this is a nonstop flight...
I'm so glad you did this video, I love these preludes and fugues. I can't wait to hear the Jenny Lin CD. I was unaware of her recording and I own many of her discs.
Hope you enjoy it!
@@DavesClassicalGuide I enjoy a lot. thank you.
@@DavesClassicalGuide I did! I enjoyed it very much. Excellent recording. Thanks for the recommendation. To the top of the list. Until now it had been Nikolayeva on Hyperion, Scherbakov on Naxos, and Ashkenazy for me.
I LUV this music! This is the music that got me through x-ray school! I needed music which wouldn't pull my mind away from vast amounts of study material and memorization. Shostakovich's preludes and fugues satisfied that need. Bach's preludes and fugues get me nervous. I have the later Nikolayeva and somehow scratched the CD's. Since then I bought Ashkenazy's which has the advantage of being on 2 discs. AND, I named my new canary "Dmitri" after Dmitri Shostakovich!
It's a glorious work and I have the Hyperion Nikolayeva recording and a more recent one that you didn't mention. However, I enjoyed all the samples you played and Jenny Lin's A major fugue was indeed wonderful.
I too started with Jarrett (first) and Nikolayeva (later), so I'm always going to be partial to her. But thanks for the Ashkenazy tip. He introduced me to Rachmaninov, so I know how capable he is. This cycle actually got me (a sax player) to get back into piano playing.
Thanks for this wonderful review! I've been listening to op.87 for decades, and have played about a quarter of them. Thanks especially for highlighting the F#-minor fugue, a piece that someone no one ever talks about. (Another astonishing one I wish were more discussed is the Eb fugue.)
Having come from these pieces to the symphonies, I had the reverse reaction to what you described. Just recently I was pouring over the score to the Leningrad's third movement, thinking, "I get it! It's just like the Eb prelude!"
p.s. Once you hear it, you can never unhear: the Db prelude is "we wish you a merry Christmas..."
Just as the fugue subject in the finale of Bruckner 5 is "Flintstones, meet the Flintstones...."
Just went onto ITunes and ended up buying 10 albums by her! She is awesome!! Thanks for the intro to JENNY lIN!!
Got Nikolayeva; and 1,4,5,23,24 played by Shostakovich himself; 1,5,24 played by Gilels
Recently picked up the Igor Levit set -- released after your video, and I like it very much. But I have to thank you for introducing me to Jalbert, really GREAT. So different from Nikolayeva that it shows just how expansive this music can be.
I've been a fan of Jenny Lin for a long time, but haven't heard her cycle. Melnikov's set was actually the version that "unlocked"the pieces for me, I was never inspired by either Nikolayeva or Jarrett.
With respect to Shostakovich's "mad waltz", I've recently been listening to a lot of Soviet era piano music, some of which is transcribed from popular films of the 30s-60s. The music was written by close contemporaries of Shostakovich such as Yuri Slonov, Isaak Dunayevsky and Anatoly Lepin. All of them write waltz music that might suggest "inspiration by Shostakovich" but which I think simply reflects the common influences on melodically inspired composers of his generation.
That is quite possible. Remember, Shostakovich was a theater pianist and wrote a lot of film music too.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Absolutely. His famous Waltz #2, is a rework from his score to "The First Echelon". In its original form it appears in collections of Russian waltzes from mid-century. There is much incidental music richness to be recorded aside from the well-known waltzes by Shostakovich, Khachaturian, Prokofiev...
The A Major fugue has always been a favorite of mine. And I've heard Jenny Lin's version on RUclips, which as you say, is pellucid. Great review, mate.
Speaking of Jenny Lin, I was so moved by her Ernest Bloch recordings, that I had to message her to let her know. Thanks, David, for bringing that one to my attention, and this one as well.
You're very welcome. I wanted to do a talk about the Bloch too--but if only the finale were a bit quicker! I think we're still waiting for an unambiguously great Concerto symphonique.
@@DavesClassicalGuide I do feel, though the sound is not great because it is so old, that the Marjorie Mitchell/Golschmann gets the finale tempo perfectly.
@@davidhickey1182 Yes. I agree.
Oh yes, the Preludes and Fugues! I’ve gone through periods when I’m obsessed with this piece and have to listen to it every day for awhile. Indeed it is an entire universe of a piece, just magnificent. And he wrote them so quickly too, the whole thing in about four months! How the hell does someone have that many good ideas, then not crow about it?!
This review was great for me, because the only version I have is the Melnikov. What a revelation to hear Jalbert’s version of the f#-minor fugue. That’s always been the only one I’ve never liked; it bores me to tears. Whenever it comes on it’s: oh god, here we go again … well, it’s only … 9 minutes, I’ve gotten through it before and I can get through it again… But I’ve always felt I was missing something, because after all it’s Shostakovich, and he chose to include it in this absolutely amazing work. So, yes, okay, I must explore Jalbert and Lin et al now.
I heard Melnikov play the second half of the piece live once, and it was kind of sloppy. Maybe he was having a bad day. He took the insane D-flat major fugue too fast and it went rather mushy. Mind you, I’ve always thought one needed at least two brains to play that one, and maybe three. I gave it a shot for awhile and realized that the effort was risking institutionalization…
Thanks for this - much fun.
David Jalbert is absolutely the BEST out of them all! Glad it's on your list!
Thank you for this great video! Any opinion of Igor Levit's recording of these preludes and fugues? I especially like his performance of the A major fugue.
Another thought-provoking video! There are a number of good recordings of Op. 87. The best I've found is often overlooked: Mûza Rubackyté on Brilliant. Consistent high quality, lots of character without distorting the music. Jenny Lin's set is good in a slightly lighter way. Caroline Weichert did the complete solo piano on Accord, and is not to be dismissed. Boris Petrushanski on Dynamic was good too. Even the old Woodward set has something still to say.
Everyone has something to day. Mûza Rubackyté is a pianist I admire (especially her LIszt), but her Shostakoivich, while good, is not one of her better efforts. Here is Jed's review, with which I agree completely: www.classicstoday.com/review/review-13946/?search=1
Am I crazy ? I remember hearing a recording of this work when I was a freshman in college in 1967. I got the score from the library to follow along.
I should get a copy of the Ashkenazy Complete Everything for Everybody. My favorite moment in all these videos is when we get to, “HOWEVER...”
i guess an update on Igor Levit would be nice . I even can't find it on classicstoday
It’s good to have catch phrases that appear in all your videos. Yours could include, “There are no great period instrument accounts of [music in question],” and, “HOWEVER...” and “Keep on listening, folks.”
Well, the first isn't true, because there are many great period instruments performances of music that sounds great on period instruments, and there's quite a bit of that.
Jenny!
I knew her when she was a teenager.
Already a first class pianist then.
The A major fuge indeed sounds almost like Domenico Scarlatti!
I've had the superb Melodya by Nikolaeva, for some years. I would like to have another 'take' on the set. I'm going towards Ashkenazy.... worth a punt?
You saw the video. You choose.
@@DavesClassicalGuide It's going to be Ashkenazy.
Dear Dave, how is it possible that you didnt get a copyright strike from Naxos?
They control their own stuff, and I'm "white-listed." It doesn't always work, but most of the time it does.
I'm a little bit obsessed with this masterpiece. So far I've heard 15 recordings. Only a few to go that I know of (including Jalbert and the recent Igor Levit released after this video).
My favourites are Melnikov and Lin, closely followed by Ashkenazy and Caroline Weichert. All of those 4 would be recommendations. I have decidedly mixed feelings about Scherbakov, with some very good things mixed with interpretations that just don't make sense to me from the score.
I think it's very difficult for any one pianist to nail every P&F, partly because I think that some of them are 'modern' and some of them ARE more 'romantic'. Lin has great clarity and rhythmic snap, and she's fantastic in faster and brighter movements - her D major P&F is absolutely sublime. But there are some P&Fs where she doesn't have quite as much emotional weight, and the only true disappointments are the G sharp minor and D flat major fugues where she sounds cautious, not fiery enough. Melnikov, on the other hand, is stunningly good in shaping some of the longer and dramatic fugues, but he overdoes some of the 'simpler' pieces and weighs them down.
Nikolayeva is of course a must hear but I don't think she's the best option. Maybe if her first recording had decent sound it would be a contender. The later ones have places where the tempo just drags too much (especially in the 2nd half). I would argue, though, that in terms of approach, Melnikov has something of her character.
Has anyone heard the Kori Bond recording on Centaur?
I did but I have to confess that it made no impression on me. It could be I just wasn't in the mood.
Yes. It seems to have been recorded in 2 halves, a couple of years apart. The first half is rather insipid, the second half is a lot better.
Another excellent survey,
Hopelessly biased as I imprinted on the recording as a teenager but the pioneering efforts of Roger Woodward (first non-Soviet recording , from 1975) stand up pretty well. Rather more brittle than some of the others you’ve mentioned but plenty of verve and character.
I was never a fan...but thanks for mentioning it.
Honestly, Woodward sounds like he's anxious that he might miss his bus at the end of the recording session. Just way too fast sometimes.
Also ... "Don't you just love the jolly Soviet happy-photo? ... Oh my god, there they are having a good time, right?" LOL
I was thinking that A Major fugue sounded like Haydn for a moment…
Is Melnikov too fussy for you?
Basically, yes, especially where the music needs simplicity and directness.
What about Sviatoslav Richter here?
Richter never played the complete cycle, just a selection. I believe that Dave was limiting himself to cycles.
Yes. And Richter was also highly variable.
@@DavesClassicalGuide He was, that's true. However, his Schubert is beyond reproach. Dark and light are so marvelously portrayed.
@@jdistler2 Richter didn't do a complete anything, as far as I'm aware.
@@artistinbeziers7916 ...and prolonged!
CATaclysm :-) Sorry, couldn't resist...
DSCH's Opus 87 is more fun to listen to than are Bach's original due alone to its emotional range.
Hello.
In my view, Keith Jarrett's recording is supreme.
Why? If you want to comment, please try to say something about the music. No one cares which version you like best (or which one I like best, for that matter). We'd like to understand what matters to you musically.
@@DavesClassicalGuide
The audio quality is superb.
As far as the fugues are concerned, Jarrett's clarity is remarkable: all the voices are carefully balanced. Moreover, his deep understanding of baroque keyboard music brings an exquisite touch to these pieces.
@@dreamsdreams9493 Thank you!
@@DavesClassicalGuide
Have you listened to that recording??
What do you think about Mr Jarrett's classical music recordings??
Thanks.
@@dreamsdreams9493 I wrote a very long review of the Shostakovich for Fanfare Magazine when it was originally issued. I think it's mostly very good except where the writing is strenuous, and his technique is not really up to the music's more bravura demands. He is also a very "cool" player--there's more emotion in the music than he brings out, but as I said, it's mostly quite good, and beautifully recorded.
The new Levit recording is pretty disappointing. Not that I was expecting more, I'm not a big fan of his... But, even if I was listening blind, he just doesn't bring out the fugue voicings so well (as if doing it on purpose), he makes so many contrived decisions that aren't in the score at all (like speeding up randomly at the end of pieces), or just taking fast movements way too fast. Listen to the Db-minor fugue (no. 15). He starts so fast that you can hear tape edits where they had to splice, the tempo meanders all over the place, and it's sloppy. And he STILL speeds up at the end!
Indeed, if one did not know in advance, it would be virtually impossible to identify the composer of that jaunty A+ fugue as the stereotypical bitter, neurotic DSCH...
Btw, do not suppose our intrepid recording critic would serendipitously have two middle names Shlomo Chaim (or similar monikers), giving him the initials DSCH. That would have pre-ordained him for a career as a classical-music critic...
Sorry, no, but it's a lovely thought. My middle name is "Melech" ("Mark") after my great grandmother, Malka Plafker. So it's DMH, which surely accounts for my lack of musicality--those who can't do criticize those who can.
Very interesting, but Mr. Hurwitz, please, more music and less talking...