Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87

Dmitri Shotakovich [1906-1975] - 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 [1950-1951]

I. C major [0:02]
II. A minor [5:34]
III. G major [8:00]
IV. E minor [12:01]
V. D major [20:48]
VI. B minor [24:23]
VII. A major [33:59]
VIII. F♯ minor [37:28]
IX. E major [47:27]
X. C♯ minor [51:56]
XI. B major [59:28]
XII. G♯ minor [1:03:17]
XIII. F♯ major [1:12:09]
XIV. E♭ minor [1:21:50]
XV. D♭ major [1:28:59]
XVI. B♭ minor [1:34:10]
XVII. A♭ major [1:46:07]
XVIII. F minor [1:52:06]
XIX. E♭ major [1:58:16]
XX. C minor [2:03:20]
XXI. B♭ major [2:14:24]
XXII. G minor [2:18:56]
XXIII. F major [2:27:09]
XXIV. D minor [2:33:59]

"In the years since his death, Dmitri Shostakovich's reputation as the musical chronicler of the Soviet era has reached unprecedented levels of controversy, with almost every work scrutinized for deeper or hidden meanings. If the 24 Preludes and Fugues are an exception, they are so deliberately; written at a time when abstract composition in the then Soviet Union was not just an undesirable, but also a dangerous venture.

The notorious - and subsequently discredited - 'Zhdanov Decree' of 1948 had the result of making Shostakovich's concert and recital music unperformable. Over the following four years, the composer's major works - the First Violin Concerto, Fourth and Fifth String Quartets and song-cycle From Jewish Folk Poetry - were essentially written 'for the desk drawer'; film music being his only dependable source of income. Ironically, the effective ban on his music coincided with a period of extensive travel, including Leipzig in July 1950 for the Bach bicentennial celebrations. Participating at short notice in a performance of Bach's Concerto for Three Pianos in D minor, Shostakovich was impressed by the artistry of the young Tatyana Nikolayeva; the catalyst for his cycle of Preludes and Fugues Op. 87, composed between October 10th 1950 and February 25th 1951.

Seventeen years earlier, Shostakovich had signified a renewed interest in abstract composition with his 24 Prelude, brief but varied pieces which form a cycle almost in spite of themselves. The Preludes and Fugues are much more the outcome of a pre-ordained groundplan: interestingly, given their inspiration, one that progresses not by semi-tones, as with Bach's '48', but through the circle of fifths followed by Chopin in his 24 Preludes. Whether or not this intimates a musical line of descent, the cycle allowed Shostakovich the priceless opportunity to celebrate his own creativity, unfettered by the social and political considerations then prevailing."
Tatyana Nikolayeva, Piano

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