The End of Soviet Music: Shostakovich and Beyond

Silvian Iticovici, violin and Richard Katz, piano

This event is part of the Danforth University Center - Chamber Series.

Peter Schmelz, speaker.

This concert presents a kaleidoscopic survey of late Soviet musical rarities. Anchored by Dmitri Shostakovich's restrained yet monumental Violin Sonata, it also explores music written by Shostakovich's younger colleagues Alfred Schnittke, Valentin Silvestrov, and Sofiya Gubaidulina. Schnittke, a proponent of what he called polystylism, presents charming yet uncanny reconstructions of past musical practice in his Suite in the Old Style and A Paganini. Silvestrov intones a more nostalgic backward glance in his haunting Postlude no. 2. Finally, Sofiya Gubaidulina translates Astor Piazzolla's rollicking Grand Tango into an effervescent duo for violin and piano.

Program:

Suite in the Old Style for violin and piano (1972) - Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998)

Postludium for violin solo (1981) - Valentin Silvestrov (b. 1937)

A Paganini for violin solo (1982) - Alfred Schnittke

Violin Sonata, Op. 134 (1968) - Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)

In the Style of Albeniz for violin and piano (1957-61 for piano; arranged in 1973 for violin and piano) - Rodion Shchedrin (b. 1932) and arranged by Dmitri Tsyganov (1903-1992)

 

Free Admission.