Customer Reviews

Shostakovich Plays Shostakovich

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I am OBSESSED with this cd.

Shostakovitch had polio and was very debilitated when he recorded at least part of this album, yet the entire thing is comprised of first takes. Every time I listen to it, I feel like I'm transported back in time and I'm there WITH Shostakovitch and Oistrakh and the other performers on the cd. At one point in the violin sonata, you can even hear the chime of Oistrakh's clock in the background, as they recorded in his home! When I listen to this album, I feel like I know the performers intimately.

This has become a very special album to me, and I highly recommend it for any Shostakovitch fan! I've bought it for many of my students and friends!

Hearing the very first performance of the Sonata for Violin and Piano, which was recorded in the apartment of David Oistrakh for an audience just of close friends is truly special. Shostakovich wrote the Violin Sonata specifically with Oistrakh in mind and I do not think there are any other CD recordings of this event. The recording itself, which is obviously a transfer from shellac/vinyl to CD, is quite good. If you can find a copy of this circulating, you should definitely get it, it is worth it.

Here are the actual program notes, written by Andor Toth:
"The works on this CD represent the best Christmas present ever by a Soviet Composer, a memorial to a lost friend, and a 60th birthday present in a year of no presents. It is the first time these string and piano chamber works havev ever been coupled together with the composer on piano. Original material was provided by the family of the late Daniil Shafran and their friends. Royalties from this recording go the the Daniil Shafran Foundation which is dedicated to fostering the late cellist's legacy through books and recordings. We wish to thank the Shafran family and Kazimierz Michalik for making this historic CD possible.

Most recordings you hear are made under good to excellent conditions by first-rate engineers in great concert halls. Early recordings often achieved wonderful sound quality. It is the job of companies that bring them out in digital form to make every effort to take nothing away from the original sound in the transfers, while trying to reduce the level of noise intrinsic to the vinyl and shellac originals. We hope you enjoy our efforts in this regard.

There have been many fine sets of program notes and even books written about the works on this recording. Instead of writing about the works themselves I will focus on these particular performances.

The Cello Sonata was written in 1934 and first performed by Victor Kubatzki on Dec 25 of that year. What a great Christmas present it was. This sonata is performed more than any other 20th century work for cello and piano. The Shostakovich Cello Sonata on this CD was recorded in 1946 just after the war and was an audio marvel for its time. Shostakovich and Shafran were very different types of musicians and played with different styles. While Shostakovich was sometimes soft and poetic he was more often very rhythmic and straightforward in his playing versus the lyrical, dynamic and colorful Shafran. They made quite a wonderful "odd couple" and performed together many times. Cellists should note the very slow and playful first half of the last movement in this performance in contrast to the marked tempo.

The second work, the Violin Sonata, is a very different proposition. The Sonata was written for David Oistrakh on the occasion of his 60th birthday . In the Soviet Union of that time it was the custom for people of Oistrakh's stature to receive medals, adulation, and public celebration to mark the 60th birthday. On Sept 30, 1968 Oistrakh turned 60 and there was only silence. Oistrakh had refused to sign a political letter authored by the government in a reply to a call by the Israeli Government for artists of all types to come together in the historic homeland of the Jews. The Sonata was first sketched in 1945 but was not finished until late November 1968 so this was a belated birthday present. I am told that in November of 1968 Shostakovich wrote a letter to David Oistrakh. At the time Oistrakh was in the United Kingdom on tour. In the letter, the composer wrote that he was very excited, having just enjoyed a playthrough of the new violin sonata in his apartment. The parts were performed on two pianos by composers Boris Tchaikovsky and Michael Weinberg. Shostakovich wrote further, that he was including a recording of the playthrough with the score and he hoped that on Oistrakh's return he would listen to it at his earliest convenience. He finished by saying he could not wait to see Oistrakh again, and when listening to the performance of the sonata, all he could hear in his inner ear was the unique sound of Oistrakh playing the violin part. The letter was dated sometime in the middle of November 1968. Upon his return to Moscow, Oistrakh immediately heard the tape and learned the sonata. The recording on this CD is an amateur recording made in Oistrakh's apartment a few weeks later. It was the first performance of the sonata with the composer at the piano, Oistrakh on violin, and before a gathering of close friends. The first public performance of the Sonata came a few weeks later on the 9th of January 1969. On May 3, 1969 Oistrakh made his famous recording of the Sonata with Sviatoslav Richter.

Being a recording of a "house concert" for a few friends there is very little reverberation and the sound is rather dry. One interesting note is that at two minutes into the first movement you can hear the chimes of Oistrakh's clock striking in the background. Our guess is 8 o'clock. Mr. Oistrakh felt that there was something very special about this tape, even with the occasional error, clock chimes and lack of high fidelity. He very much wanted it to be released. To my knowledge it was never released in his lifetime. The listener should remember that the piece was finished only weeks before the recording took place and you are hearing the work performed for the very first time, at an informal get together with friends at the Oistrakh apartment.

Shostakovich wrote the Piano Triao in 1944 during the war upon learning of the death of his close friend, Ivan Sollertinsky. Sollertinsky's death was a great personal tragedy and the Trio reflects his loss and celebrates the life of his friend. This recording was made with Milos Sadlo joining the composer and David Oistrakh in 1947 in Prague. In those days it was not very practical to edit recordings made on shellac and the normal practice was for the musicians to perform the work several times and choose what they liked best for publication. Mr. Shostakovich felt that diong such a thing would ruin the spontaneity of the performance and the result would not be an honest recording so he refused to repeat anything. Because of that, this is an unedited performance of the work."

Shostakovich was clearly a genius and this CD shows that. He lived under such torture under the Soviet power and tried to express his sadness in his music - unfortunately though, he was nearly arrested for writing music that Stalin did not like.
I also recomend listening to Shostakovich's Piano Preludes.
I believe that these are some of his only works in which the composer expresses himself truely. But this CD also shows that, which is why i THOROUGHLY recomend it.

Email me to hear some of my compositions, inspired by the genius of Shostakovich.

Edwin