Shostakovich
24 Preludes & Fugues, op.87
Possesing both inspiration and creative imagination, Dmitri Shostakovich
became famous very early on for compositions written in a wide variety of
musical forms, from piano and chamber music to the symphony and the opera.
Composer and pianist, he took part in the Warsaw Chopin Competition in 1927
where he was awarded a distinction. His most innovatory compositions for this
instrument were his futuristic First Sonata (1926) and Aphorisms (1927),
which were a cocktail of Sch墹bergian influences and classical style. A
return to tonality was to characterize his Twenty-four Preludes and Fugues,
op.87.
In the years following 1948, the artistic 'freeze' in the Soviet Union was
at its height and the infamouse Jdanov Report meant that the Country's best
composers were being blacklisted on the grounds of 'formalism'. Most of
Shostakovich's best works were condemned and no longer played. In 1950, he
had the opportunity to pay hommage to Bach, one of the musicians he admired
most and this aloowed him to regain a sense of balance. It was in this year
that he was invited to Leipzig for the bicentenary celebrations of Bach's
death, where a great number of his works were to be performed. Shostakovich
himself took part in the final concert, which was to end with the performance
of the Concerto in D minor for three pianos and orchestra, the soloist being
Tatiana Nikolaeva, Maria Youdina and Pavel Serebriakov. The day before the
concert, however, Youdina hurt her finger and Shostakovich himself replaced
her, with absolutely no preparation, on the second piano.
The vivid impressions made on him at the festival must have inspired our
musician to write a hommage to Bach on the lines of the Well-Tempered
Clavier. This turned out to be a vast series of twenty-four preludes and
fugues, which were first performed by Tatiana Nikolaeva on 23rd and 28th
December, 1952 in Leningrad. "I still have the impression that this music
has just been written", said Tatiana Nikolaeva to David Fanning in 1991.
"I'm certain that Shostakovich wanted to make it into a dramatic cycle. It's
like a monolith, from beginning to end, with a very wide emotional register."
It was certainly a monolith, but also a kaleidoscope of ideas. It is pure
Shostakovich, delivering his customary impressions and confessions in simple
language in a style that is often internalized, similar to his string
quartets. In the Preludes, the tone ranges from confidence (1 and 18) to
revolt (14). The fugues are in two, three, four or five parts and two of them
are double. They either prepare the ground for the fugue or are in marked
contrast to it. Like that of Bach, the series explores the twenty-four keys,
major and minor.
1. C major: the Prelude is a chorale in sarabande rhythm, the Fugue slow
and actract.
2. A minor: the Prelude is in perpetuum mobile. The Fugue is humerous and
the modulation, original.
3. G major: the Prelude has a majestic subject whilst the fugue is light
and tinges with irony.
4. E minor: the prelude is in a vein of Tchaikovskian melancholy, the
four-part fugue extremely complex.
5. D major: the prelude has a popular music feel to it, whilst the Fugue
is sophisticated in conception.
6. B minor: the dramatic Prelude is reminiscent of the composer's
symphonies. The four-part fugue us highly developed.
7. A major: the Prelude is closed to Bach in spirit. The subject of the
Fugue is constructed around the notes of the triad. The upper register
dominates.
8. F sharp minor: the Prelude is reminiscent of a favotte whilst the
Fugue conveys a sense of suffering.
9. E major: a Prelude of great melodic interest. The Fugue is the most
classical of the series.
10. C sharp minor: Prelude - a dialogue in semiquavers between the right
and left hand. A contraputal Fugue.
11. B major: the freshness of the Prelude is evocative of the world of
childhood. a fast and energetic Fugue.
12. G sharp minor: Prelude in the form of a passacaille, one of the
composer's favourite forms. The four-part Fugue develops with relentless
energy in an almost orchestral spirit.
13. F sharop major: the Prelude is a pastorale whilst the Fugue is the
only five-part one in the series and based on a very simple subject.
14. E flat minor: In marked contrast to the preceeding number, the Prelude
has the effect of a dramatic scene from an opera, conveying a feeling of
revolt. The Fugue develops like a lamentation and is austere in spirit.
15. D flat major: the light Prelude, a sort of ironic waltz, is in contrast
to the monolithic Fugue.
16. B flat minor: a Prelude whose subject, in chorale style, is used in
a series of variations. The Fugue is baroque in character and of great
rhythmic complexity.
17. A flat major: The Prelude is built on two simple motifs, the Fugue is
in quintuple time.
18. F minor: the tone of the Prelude is one of confidence. The outline of
a chorale occupies the middle section. The Fugue has a lilting theme which
is undeniably Russion in character.
19. E flat major: the Prelude is written around two subjects: a majestic
chorale receives a plantive response which descends into the lower register.
The Fugue is characterised by chromatic inflections.
20. D minor: the subject of the Prelude is traditional and vocal, the
fugue powerful and assured, drawing the beginning of its theme from that of
the Prelude.
21. B flat major: the Prelude is in the style of a piano study in toccata
form. The Fugue us hearty and optimistic in tone.
22. G minor: once again, the Prelude resembles a study, following a
repetitive formula. The Fugue has a folk music flavour to it.
23. F major: the Prelude is constructed around a tender and romantic
threnody. The Fugue has four sections, all of which display youthful grace.
24. D minor: A return to the solemnity and meditative spirit in the
Prelude. After a calm opening, the double four-part Fugue swells to the
dimension of a fresco from the accelerando poco a poco which introduces
the second subject onwards. The opposing elements undergo symphonic
development.
Pierre Vidal
(Translated by Elizabeth Guill)
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