Customer Reviews

24 Preludes & Fugues for Piano

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is magical, magical music. It is intimate Shostakovich, at his most poetic and lyrical, the thought of Bach creating a balance, beauty, and spiritual quality to Shostakovich's music that, for me,surpasses all his other music.

Nikolaeva captures the poetry and noble weight of this music. This is the better of her two recordings available on disc. It is more tightly recorded,and it is more economical in performance, more direct than her Hyperion recording.

It is said, that, unlike Ashkenazy, she doesn't capture the humour of this music, according to a reviewer above. I have never found Shostakovich humorous.Sometimes he is satirical, but not in this music.

The prodigal hands and astonishing spirituality of Tatiana Nikolayeva has been submitted of intense analysis in the spheres of the Western World. She seemed a legitimate heiress of past traditions, that characterized the creative atmosphere generated by them at the same time to play just the first bar.

Curiously she is scantily known in spite of by her winning performances of Johan Sebastian Bach. So since that state of things it is so easy to understand these Shostakovich ' s preludes are so wonderful and fabulously played; impeccable phrasing, earnest expression, dramatic breath and first order inspiration. Somehow she was a muse for Dimitri at those hard times of oppression and struggling environment; where the art went much further.

The eternal debt of these Preludes are because Bach, but represent to my mind the highest legacy bequeathed by Shostakovich for this instrument.

These Preludes & Fugues, inspired from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, are performed by the individual to whom they were dedicated. Tatiana Nikolayeva interprets these pieces with the utmost excellence of execution, and shows us the remarkable multi-facetedness of these works. Impeccable technique, poetry, sensitivity, and authoritative scholarship make this recording of Shostakovich's 24 masterpieces a "must have" for any serious music collector.

These are some of the most beautiful piano pieces of the 20th century! And they're being performed here by the pianist that Shosty wrote them for. Not sure why these haven't been reissued. I lucked out and found all 3 volumes !

This album is a combination of the best in both worlds- the classical and the modernist. Shostakovich was inspired by Bach when he composed this work, especially for    Tatiana Nikolaeva to play. It is an album which provides an opportunity for quiet contemplation and deep emotional resonance. I highly recommend it.

According to some recent reviews (of an otherwise beautiful performance, by Ashkenazy), Mrs Nikolaeva "misunderstood" Shostakovithc's inherent humor and therefore played the Preludes and Fugues too rigourously. Can you figure out? Cheek-in-tongue being the appropriate interpretation of this thoughtful work! With the "petulant and occidentalized" Ashkenazy, a fresh wind is blowing on opus 87, but it does not carry away the "austere and oriental" Nikolaeva, the creator and ... still the reference.

Additional note: the sound of the re-edited CD is good. So, sound should not deter those who don't consider themselves "collectors".

For me, Shostakovich was a hit or miss composer. Particularly when it came to his symphonies which I generally either love or am rather apathetic towards. His smaller scale works tend to be more consistent(most likely due to their more private nature), and his "24 Preludes and Fugues" is no exception. In the case of this work it is most certainly a hit. Taken as whole, few weaknesses can be found in this wonderful composition. Taken in its various parts the absolute variety that somehow maintains an undeniable unity truly sets it apart. For any of those who think only of his bombastic symphonies when they think of Shostakovich this work should give you a very different perspective on this great genius.

As far as the recording itself goes I would have to say that the recording quality on the Hyperion issue is slightly surperior. Yet at the cheaper price tag you can't go wrong with this one either.

Tatiana is not so popular to American audience but she was a big name in Russia: A teacher, a pianist, and a composer in Moscow Conservatory. She died in 1994 in the US recital tour. Unluckily, there's not much her records. This set is one of her wellknowns and can be thought as the best (compare to others, like Schebakov or Ashkenaszy). This set was Gramophone winner, Prix Maurice Fleuret's top 100 best CDs all time. May say Tatiana lived and died with these preludes and fugues. She died while playing these in a performance in SanFrancisco, 1994. You also can listen to Tatiana's Goldberg Variations of Bach, that is a really nice one too. I strongly recommend this set.

Someone prefers to Keith Jarrett in Shostakovich's Preludes and Fugues. Do you think a jazzman can reach to the peak of classical? No. They're in two different worlds. Like a Classical pianist cannot play "Functional" like T. Monk.

I have dropped hints for the passed 10 years to friends and family, that I all I would want for Christmas/Birthday is a copy of T. Nikolaeva playing these preludes and fugues.

After a long wait I finally treated myself to an early Christmas present. I should have bought it years ago.

J. Chapman

There have been quite a few recordings of Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues for Piano ~ This particular interpretation, by Nikolayeva, has once again failed to capture the true essence of Shostakovich's music. Her playing is obviosuly exceptional, but that is not important here, since, as good as it may be, it is not suited for Shostakovich at all. The humourous and tragic tones of Shostakovich's preludes and fugues are not expressed properly...at times overexpressed, and at other times, ignored. "Too much nonsense" to put it roughly. The best recording of the preludes and fugues, stays with KEITH JARRET, and no-one will ever come close to his genial interpretation of this great Soviet masterpiece.