Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 07/16/2014, uploaded on 12/04/2014

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Dmitri Shostakovich composed his cycle of twenty-four preludes and fugues in 1950/51. It was inspired by Bach’s forty-eight keyboard preludes and fugues, and was specifically undertaken after Shostakovich heard Russian pianist Tatiana Nikolayeva perform Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. Nikolayeva described Shostakovich’s preludes and fugues, as “music of great depth, of unsurpassed mastery and greatness”. Shostakovich experienced persecution by the Soviet government in the early 1950s, hence the introverted and reflective mood of the Twenty-Four Preludes and Fugues.

The prelude starts with a sigh-like motive that is present throughout the whole movement. The stillness reminds us of endless Russian landscapes. The fugue slowly emerges from the prelude. It is contrapuntally intricate, with four voices and two subjects, the second in a slightly faster tempo than the first. It becomes more and more complex as it unfolds until the two subjects are combined and lead to a triumphant ending.      Anna Khanina

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24 Preludes and Fugues, op. 87     Dmitri Shostakovich

In the aftermath of World War II, Dmitri Shostakovich was officially denounced by his own government as the Soviets attempted to purge all Western influences from their artists. With this denunciation, many of his works were banned, and the financial blow to the composer was severe. Thus, his creative work fell into three categories: film music, which provided the composer with some means of supporting himself and family; compositions to regain favor with his Soviet overlords; and music “for the desk drawer,” as they became known—works by the true artist that had been suppressed by his government and quite possibly were never to see the light of day. It is in this last group that the 24 Preludes and Fugues, op. 87 is generally thought to belong.

The restrictions on Shostakovich’s creative output was somewhat lessened in 1949 when Stalin decided the Soviet Union should be better represented on the international stage and selected the composer to be one of its cultural ambassadors. The following year, Shostakovich served on the judging panel for the first International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Leipzig. One of the entrants was a young pianist from Moscow named Tatiana Nikolayeva, who was prepared to play any of Bach’s forty-eight preludes and fugues upon request. Nikolayeva was awarded first place, but more importantly, Shostakovich was greatly impressed and inspired by her playing. He returned to Moscow and began composing his own set of preludes and fugues. Shostakovich progressed rapidly on the work, spending around three days on each piece, and completing the entire set over a roughly four-month period. With each new piece, he invited Nikolayeva to visit him and would perform it for her.

Shortly after completing the 24 Preludes and Fugues in February 1951, Shostakovich, as was generally done, presented the first half of the cycle to the Union of Composers. It failed to win any sort of wholehearted approval, with the Union expressing dissatisfaction with the amount of dissonance and, indeed, even the use of the fugal form, which was considered too Western. Nevertheless, the collection was premiered in Leningrad in December 1952 by Tatiana Nikolayeva, and has since become one of the composer’s most well-known compositions for piano.    Joseph DuBose

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.