Shostakovich plays Shostakovich
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Dmitri Shostakovich
Label: Revelation Records
Magazine Review Date: 2/1999
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 61
Mastering:
Stereo
Mono
ADD
Catalogue Number: RV70008
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Sonata for Violin and Piano |
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer
David Oistrakh, Violin Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano |
| (3) Fantastic Dances |
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer
Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer |
| (The) Golden Age, Movement: Polka |
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano |
| Sonata for Cello and Piano |
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer
Daniil Shafran, Cello Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano |
Composer or Director: Dmitri Shostakovich
Label: Revelation Records
Magazine Review Date: 2/1999
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 68
Mastering:
Mono
ADD
Catalogue Number: RV70007
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (24) Preludes, Movement: F sharp minor |
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano |
| (24) Preludes, Movement: G minor |
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano |
| (24) Preludes, Movement: F |
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano |
| (24) Preludes, Movement: A flat |
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer
Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer |
| (24) Preludes, Movement: F minor |
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano |
| (24) Preludes, Movement: E flat |
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano |
| (24) Preludes, Movement: D minor |
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer
Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer |
| (24) Preludes, Movement: E flat minor |
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano |
| (24) Preludes, Movement: D flat |
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano |
| (24) Preludes, Movement: B flat minor |
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer
Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer |
| From Jewish Folk Poetry |
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer
Alexei Maslennikov, Tenor Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano Nina Dorliak, Soprano Zara Dolukhanova, Mezzo soprano |
| (7) Children's Pieces |
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano |
| Piano Trio No. 2 |
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer
Dimitri Tsiganov, Violin Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano Sergey Shirinsky, Cello |
Author:
The best of Shostakovich’s piano recordings date from the late 1940s. All ten Preludes in Vol. 6 of Revelation’s invaluable series are given polished and characterful performances; the two duplicated ones make for fascinating comparison, though the later 1950 recordings are sonically inferior. Shostakovich makes his own peremptory announcements of movement titles for the Children’s Pieces, all seven of which he plays unfussily; the last two are technically shoddy.
I seem to have done nothing but cavil about the various recordings of the Second Piano Trio that have come my way over the years. Hear this version though, or indeed the one with Oistrakh and Sadlo in Vol. 5 of the series, and I think you’ll understand why. Some manage the first three movements just as convincingly, but the composer’s recordings are incomparable in the finale, in creating a sense of doomed momentum and in sustaining it past the obvious climax until the music seems out of its mind with intensity and can only blow itself apart.
From Jewish Folk Poetry features the same performers as gave the delayed public premiere in 1955. It’s a fabulous performance. What a pity the piano is substandard, for Shostakovich’s playing here, if not beyond criticism, is surely beyond praise. Recording quality is pretty miserable, with the voices overloading when they sing together and the piano often sounding indistinct.
The prospect of hearing Shostakovich in his Violin Sonata filled me with excitement and horror in almost equal measure. He made his only recording of the piece with Oistrakh in December 1968 in his Moscow apartment (his clock chimes rather pleasingly about two minutes into the first movement). As such it is a priceless document. But this was all ten years on from the first signs of the polio-related condition which progressively crippled his right hand, and four years since his farewell public appearance as pianist. Anyone not knowing the circumstances would surely consider his playing here the work of a rank amateur, and I’m astonished to find no mention of Shostakovich’s disability in Revelation’s booklet-essay. I haven’t been able to compare the recording with the Melodiya LPs, but the dropouts at every tiniest silence suggest that it has passed at some stage through a crude noise-reduction system.
The performance of the Cello Sonata is at the opposite extreme. Shafran plays like an angel and the tempos are perfectly judged (which is to say that they bear no relation to those marked in the published scores). The composer is also on top form, and for emotional and structural conviction this comfortably surpasses his recording with Rostropovich. Recording quality in this instance is surprisingly good, though the piano once again sounds distant. The Three Fantastic Dances are nervy and gabbled, the Polka likewise though to more characterful effect.
For those likely to be bothered, the Violin Sonata comes out almost precisely a semitone sharp, and the Dances and the Polka are significantly above international standard pitch – by no means an uncommon fault with recordings from the former Soviet Union. Happily the Cello Sonata is spot on.'
I seem to have done nothing but cavil about the various recordings of the Second Piano Trio that have come my way over the years. Hear this version though, or indeed the one with Oistrakh and Sadlo in Vol. 5 of the series, and I think you’ll understand why. Some manage the first three movements just as convincingly, but the composer’s recordings are incomparable in the finale, in creating a sense of doomed momentum and in sustaining it past the obvious climax until the music seems out of its mind with intensity and can only blow itself apart.
From Jewish Folk Poetry features the same performers as gave the delayed public premiere in 1955. It’s a fabulous performance. What a pity the piano is substandard, for Shostakovich’s playing here, if not beyond criticism, is surely beyond praise. Recording quality is pretty miserable, with the voices overloading when they sing together and the piano often sounding indistinct.
The prospect of hearing Shostakovich in his Violin Sonata filled me with excitement and horror in almost equal measure. He made his only recording of the piece with Oistrakh in December 1968 in his Moscow apartment (his clock chimes rather pleasingly about two minutes into the first movement). As such it is a priceless document. But this was all ten years on from the first signs of the polio-related condition which progressively crippled his right hand, and four years since his farewell public appearance as pianist. Anyone not knowing the circumstances would surely consider his playing here the work of a rank amateur, and I’m astonished to find no mention of Shostakovich’s disability in Revelation’s booklet-essay. I haven’t been able to compare the recording with the Melodiya LPs, but the dropouts at every tiniest silence suggest that it has passed at some stage through a crude noise-reduction system.
The performance of the Cello Sonata is at the opposite extreme. Shafran plays like an angel and the tempos are perfectly judged (which is to say that they bear no relation to those marked in the published scores). The composer is also on top form, and for emotional and structural conviction this comfortably surpasses his recording with Rostropovich. Recording quality in this instance is surprisingly good, though the piano once again sounds distant. The Three Fantastic Dances are nervy and gabbled, the Polka likewise though to more characterful effect.
For those likely to be bothered, the Violin Sonata comes out almost precisely a semitone sharp, and the Dances and the Polka are significantly above international standard pitch – by no means an uncommon fault with recordings from the former Soviet Union. Happily the Cello Sonata is spot on.'
Shostakovich plays Shostakovich
Shostakovich plays Shostakovich
Discover the world's largest classical music catalogue with Presto Music.
Gramophone Digital Club
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £8.75 / month
Subscribe
Gramophone Full Club
- Print Edition
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £11.00 / month
Subscribe
If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.