Newsgroup: it.arti.musica.classica
Titolo: Shostakovich, Sonata per viola e pianoforte op.147

Tanto per ricordare che la viola, soprattutto se suonata bene :), ha
una voce a sè stante. Dimentica che è l'ultimo lavoro di Shostakovich,
dimentica i facili riferimenti e la semplicità... e ascolta, la danza
beffarda del secondo movimento che si chiude in punta di piedi, e
l'estenuante meditazione dell'ultimo movimento. Chissà se un giorno
riuscirò a suonare questo terzo movimento... (penso valga la pena
continuare a sperare :))
Shostakovich, Sonata per viola e pianoforte op.147 (1975)
secondo movimento, Allegretto (160 kbps, 18.5 MB)
http://tisckhenko.altervista.org/shosviola2.MP3
terzo movimento, Adagio (160 kbps, 8.5 MB)
http://tisckhenko.altervista.org/shosviola3.MP3
...e se vi sembrano troppo pesanti da scaricare, 
ascoltate almeno questi estratti:
dal secondo movimento (746 KB)
http://tisckhenko.altervista.org/shostaviola2extr.MP3
dal terzo movimento (682 KB)
http://tisckhenko.altervista.org/shostaviola3extr.mp3
Ciao     Mr Duffy

 
http://tisckhenko.altervista.org/shosviola3.MP3
Saresti così gentile da indicarmi il link anche per il primo movimento,
pleeeeease??

 
http://tisckhenko.altervista.org/shosviola3.MP3
Mi dici chi e' il violista plis?  :)
V.

 V.
Mi associo :-)

 Mi dici chi e' il violista plis?  :)
Del pianista non te ne frega niente? :))
E' che google mi aveva cancellato il post e riscrivendolo mi sono 
dimenticato gli interpreti... molto molto bravi...
Shlomo Mintz, viola
Victoria Postnikova, pianoforte
(per il primo movimento, pazienta, Simone... :)
Ciao    Mr Duffy
The Viola Sonata of Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich dates from the very 
end of his overwhelmingly tragic life; in fact, he would not live to hear 
it played. In February 1966 the composer, who had generally tended 
towards frail health, suffered a serious heart attack. Although he 
recovered, his physical condition proved a serious restriction during the 
decade that remained for him. The last works of many composers seem not 
valedictory at all &#8212; and, indeed, in most cases their composers could not 
have known that their time was up. Shostakovich, however, seems to have 
been fully aware of the gravity of his health in 1975. Viewing this 
sonata as a consciously uttered last word is probably not merely a 
fantasy of Romantic retrospection.
At first, we may be almost as impressed by what is not in this piece as 
by what is: the listener will not find here the parodistic cynicism and 
the self-deprecating undercutting that is a hallmark in much of 
Shostakovich&#8217;s oeuvre. Instead, the composer takes leave of the world in 
a spirit of unalloyed authenticity: the Viola Sonata has no self-
consciousness about it, and its material seems a summation of what the 
composer held dear, unencumbered by the slightest overlay of social 
critique or political kowtowing. Its meaning is purely musical. Even the 
march rhythms and the folk-like tone of the second movement seem not to 
refer to the world outside, as such characteristics so often do in his 
music (and, indeed, as these very melodies did when Shostakovich first 
used them, in his unfinished opera The Gamblers); here, they come across 
as his native language, pure and simple. What&#8217;s more, in this work 
Shostakovich is not answering to anyone else&#8217;s time constraints. The 
Viola Sonata is a leisurely work, and the listener avidly hangs on to its 
composer&#8217;s last words for as long as the composer wishes to express them. 
The resulting piece unrolls over nearly 35 minutes, of which the first 
movement lasts some ten minutes, the second (the fast movement) fills 
eight, and the Adagio finale perseveres in a state of profound 
contemplation for about 17.
The work was written for, and is dedicated to, Fyodor Druzhinin, who in 
1964 became the violist of the Beethoven String Quartet, the ensemble to 
which Shostakovich entrusted the premieres of nearly all of his quartets. 
He recalled that Shostakovich first broached the subject of the piece 
with him during a phone call at nine o&#8217;clock on the morning of July 1, 
1975, and asked if he might bother Druzhinin for advice on certain 
matters relating to viola technique. Being assured that the violist (who 
assumed that the piece was already well underway) was at his disposal in 
this regard, Shostakovich called back two hours later to ask if one could 
play parallel fourths on the viola. Recalled Druzhinin, &#8220;I encouraged 
Dmitri Dmitriyevich to write whatever he liked &#8212; viola players would 
stretch their technique and learn to play scales in fourths. For several 
days we had conversations like this on the phone.&#8221; On July 5, 
Shostakovich disclosed to Druzhinin certain programmatic outlines when he 
described the piece: &#8220;The first movement is a novella, the second a 
scherzo, and the Finale is an adagio in memory of Beethoven.&#8221; The music 
of Beethoven was always dear to Shostakovich, and in this final movement 
his tribute most obviously takes the form of stark arpeggios that recall 
the somber opening of the Moonlight Sonata. These sit in proximity to a 
circumscribed viola melody of intense poignancy, a character that evokes 
not only the Moonlight Sonata but also deceptively simple Classic songs 
such as Mozart&#8217;s &#8220;Abendempfindsam&#8221; and Schubert&#8217;s &#8220;Litanei.&#8221;
Shostakovich entered the hospital immediately upon completing the last 
movement and sending the score off to the Union of Composers to have it 
copied out for Druzhinin and the pianist Mikhail Muntyan, whom the 
violist had chosen to assist in the premiere. During the month that 
passed while the score was being prepared, Shostakovich grew steadily 
weaker, and was moved from his regular hospital room to the intensive 
care ward. On August 6, Druzhinin finally received the score.
&#8220;I rushed home,&#8221; the violist recounted, and immediately rang Misha 
Muntyan. He came flying over to my place and we thereupon started playing 
the sonata and continued playing it till late at night. Immediately 
afterwards I sat down to write a long letter to Dmitri Dmitriyevich to 
express my profound gratitude to him and my immense admiration for the 
sonata, which sounded marvelous, and to reassure him that there wasn&#8217;t a 
note in it that could not be played. I promised to be ready as soon as 
possible to perform it to him, and at latest, if he approved of our 
interpretation, to schedule it for a concert on his birthday, September 
25. This letter was written during the night of August 6-7. On August 9, 
August Dmitri Dmiriyevich died in the hospital.
Druzhinin and Muntyan kept their promise in spirit, and performed the 
sonata&#8217;s premiere at Shostakovich&#8217;s home, before a privately invited 
audience, a day after what would have been the composer&#8217;s 69th birthday.
James M. Keller
http://tinyurl.co.uk/5dy1
 
The Viola Sonata, composed in the summer of 1975, was Shostakovich's last 
work. After years of debilitating illness, the composer knew the end was 
near, and this music was written in that knowledge. Yet the Viola Sonata 
neither rages nor shakes its fist at death. Rather, it is somber and 
subdued, and while the music may be dark and sad, the end finds 
Shostakovich accepting fate rather than railing against it. All three 
movements end with the marking morendo, which means "dying." In music, 
such a marking is usually taken to mean "dying away," though here 
Shostakovich may have invoked the literal meaning as well.
Shostakovich preserves the expected three movement structure of the 
instrumental sonata, but that may be the only traditional thing about 
this music, which is original in both form and expression. Shostakovich 
was never comfortable with fast opening movements, and the marking for 
the first movement here, Moderato, is entirely characteristic. Yet this 
is not a sonata form movement; instead, it is episodic and restless. The 
very beginning is stunning. All alone, the viola plays a gently rocking 
figure, entirely pizzicato and played only on the open strings-the effect 
is spare and haunting, and soon the piano takes up this same figure. The 
center of the movement is more animated, with the viola surging on 
triplet rhythms; Shostakovich makes an effective transition away from 
this furious energy as the viola's high tremolo (played entirely 
ponticello: right on the bridge) accompanies the piano's reprise of the 
rocking figure. A subdued viola cadenza (there are a number of passages 
for solo viola in this sonata) leads to the close, where the movement 
vanishes on fragments of earlier themes.
Allegretto was a favorite Shostakovich marking for movements, and this 
one is based on the viola's dancing, sardonic main idea. This is quirky 
music, full of unexpected turns and stops, and finally it dies away on 
the piano's ghostly tapping of the central rhythm. The last movement may 
be the most original of all, for the sonata ends not with the expected 
fast movement but with an Adagio that is by far the longest movement. 
Solo viola has the introduction, marked espressivo, and the entrance of 
the piano brings a further surprise: together, the instruments make 
fleeting but unmistakable references to Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata, 
which continue throughout. Shostakovich's evocation of this material is 
painful and beautiful, but its relevance is not clear-perhaps it is his 
last gesture toward the great composer of the classical tradition which 
Shostakovich himself had taken up. There are several outbursts along the 
way, but the movement remains subdued, and at the end the last music 
Shostakovich ever wrote fades into silence on a quiet C major chord.
The Viola Sonata was composed in June and July of 1975. Shostakovich 
entered the hospital at the end of the latter month, and it was there-in 
a hospital bed-that he corrected the proofs of this music on August 5. 
Three days later, Shostakovich-a passionate soccer fan-asked to be 
wakened in time to watch a televised match. He fell asleep, and never 
woke.
The Viola Sonata is dedicated to Fyodor Druzhinin, violist of the 
Beethoven Quartet and a longtime friend and colleague of the composer. 
Druzhinin gave the premiere performance in Moscow on October 1, 1975.
http://www.performances.org/encores_note/asqb.asp
Inviato da 
www.mynewsgate.net

 Mi dici chi e' il violista plis? :)
Del pianista non te ne frega niente? :))
E' che google mi aveva cancellato il post e riscrivendolo mi sono 
dimenticato gli interpreti... molto molto bravi...
Shlomo Mintz, viola
Victoria Postnikova, pianoforte
(per il primo movimento, pazienta, Simone... :)
Ciao Mr Duffy
The Viola Sonata of Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich dates from the very 
end of his overwhelmingly tragic life; in fact, he would not live to hear 
it played. In February 1966 the composer, who had generally tended 
towards frail health, suffered a serious heart attack. Although he 
recovered, his physical condition proved a serious restriction during the 
decade that remained for him. The last works of many composers seem not 
valedictory at all; and, indeed, in most cases their composers could not 
have known that their time was up. Shostakovich, however, seems to have 
been fully aware of the gravity of his health in 1975. Viewing this 
sonata as a consciously uttered last word is probably not merely a 
fantasy of Romantic retrospection.
At first, we may be almost as impressed by what is not in this piece as 
by what is: the listener will not find here the parodistic cynicism and 
the self-deprecating undercutting that is a hallmark in much of 
Shostakovich's oeuvre. Instead, the composer takes leave of the world in 
a spirit of unalloyed authenticity: the Viola Sonata has no self-
consciousness about it, and its material seems a summation of what the 
composer held dear, unencumbered by the slightest overlay of social 
critique or political kowtowing. Its meaning is purely musical. Even the 
march rhythms and the folk-like tone of the second movement seem not to 
refer to the world outside, as such characteristics so often do in his 
music (and, indeed, as these very melodies did when Shostakovich first 
used them, in his unfinished opera The Gamblers); here, they come across 
as his native language, pure and simple. What's more, in this work 
Shostakovich is not answering to anyone else's time constraints. The 
Viola Sonata is a leisurely work, and the listener avidly hangs on to its 
composer's last words for as long as the composer wishes to express them. 
The resulting piece unrolls over nearly 35 minutes, of which the first 
movement lasts some ten minutes, the second (the fast movement) fills 
eight, and the Adagio finale perseveres in a state of profound 
contemplation for about 17.
The work was written for, and is dedicated to, Fyodor Druzhinin, who in 
1964 became the violist of the Beethoven String Quartet, the ensemble to 
which Shostakovich entrusted the premieres of nearly all of his quartets. 
He recalled that Shostakovich first broached the subject of the piece 
with him during a phone call at nine o'clock on the morning of July 1, 
1975, and asked if he might bother Druzhinin for advice on certain 
matters relating to viola technique. Being assured that the violist (who 
assumed that the piece was already well underway) was at his disposal in 
this regard, Shostakovich called back two hours later to ask if one could 
play parallel fourths on the viola. Recalled Druzhinin, "I encouraged 
Dmitri Dmitriyevich to write whatever he liked; viola players would 
stretch their technique and learn to play scales in fourths. For several 
days we had conversations like this on the phone"; On July 5, 
Shostakovich disclosed to Druzhinin certain programmatic outlines when he 
described the piece: "The first movement is a novella, the second a 
scherzo, and the Finale is an adagio in memory of Beethoven". The music 
of Beethoven was always dear to Shostakovich, and in this final movement 
his tribute most obviously takes the form of stark arpeggios that recall 
the somber opening of the Moonlight Sonata. These sit in proximity to a 
circumscribed viola melody of intense poignancy, a character that evokes 
not only the Moonlight Sonata but also deceptively simple Classic songs 
such as Mozart's "Abendempfindsam" and Schubert's "Litanei"; Shostakovich 
entered the hospital immediately upon completing the last movement and 
sending the score off to the Union of Composers to have it copied out for 
Druzhinin and the pianist Mikhail Muntyan, whom the violist had chosen 
to assist in the premiere. During the month that passed while the score 
was being prepared, Shostakovich grew steadily weaker, and was moved from 
his regular hospital room to the intensive care ward. On August 6, 
Druzhinin finally received the score. "I rushed home", the violist 
recounted, "and immediately rang Misha Muntyan. He came flying over 
to my place and we thereupon started playing the sonata and continued 
playing it till late at night. Immediately afterwards I sat down to write 
a long letter to Dmitri Dmitriyevich to express my profound gratitude to 
him and my immense admiration for the sonata, which sounded marvelous, 
and to reassure him that there wasn't a note in it that could not be 
played. I promised to be ready as soon as possible to perform it to him, 
and at latest, if he approved of our interpretation, to schedule it for 
a concert on his birthday, September 25. This letter was written during 
the night of August 6-7. On August 9, August Dmitri Dmiriyevich died in 
the hospital.
Druzhinin and Muntyan kept their promise in spirit, and performed the 
sonata's premiere at Shostakovich's home, before a privately invited 
audience, a day after what would have been the composer's 69th birthday.
James M. Keller
http://tinyurl.co.uk/5dy1
 
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http://www.performances.org/encores_note/asqb.asp
Inviato da 
www.mynewsgate.net
 
Inviato da 
www.mynewsgate.net

 (per il primo movimento, pazienta, Simone... :)
Ok, ti ringrazio!!

 Ok, ti ringrazio!!
primo movimento, Moderato (160 kbps, 13 MB)
http://tisckhenko.altervista.org/shosviola1.MP3
Ho postato prima gli altri due perchè mi sembrano più immediati, soprattutto 
se ci si accosta a questa Sonata per la prima volta. Ora il quadro è 
completo :)
Ciao     Mr Duffy
Inviato da 
www.mynewsgate.net

 Shlomo Mintz, viola
Mi pareva che doveva essere un violinista, ecco perche' volevo saperlo   ;)
V.

 Mi pareva che doveva essere un violinista, ecco perche' volevo saperlo   ;)
lol :)
sto ascoltando il Concerto di Coski suoanto da Leonid Kogan...
uno spettacolo, davvero bellissimo.
