Dmitry Shostakovich was never among my favorite composers.
Why?
Because I’ve often found his music far too complex.
I don’t know about you, but whenever I notice a music piece that is trying to tell me a lot of “overwhelming stuff”, I’d mentally make an excuse and switch off the CD player.
From the pure standpoint as an audience, I’ve often felt drown by the messages being conveyed from Shostakovich. Due to my own incomprehension about the political climate and tension of the Soviet Union in the early half of the 20th century, I have to admit it has taken me quite a long time before I’m able to sit down patiently enough to open my ears and listen to an entire CD of Shostakovich.
So, what makes me feel comfortable enough now to write a post on Shostakovich’s Opus 87: 24 Preludes and Fugues?
From quite a while back, I was given a CD set of Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 by the performer Tatiana Nikolayeva.
While I was very thankful for the set, I cringed because of the name Shostakovich.
Due to my biased attitude, I was never relaxed enough to appreciate any of the preludes and fugues.
Because of my usual reflex of agitation, I found myself judging and criticizing Nikolayeva’s interpretations with phrases like “oh, this is really slow…”, or “watch out now, the notes are going to clash right here, any time now…yuck!”.
In a way, I felt totally ashamed of my intolerance towards the music of Shostakovich.
To amend my silly and immature behavior, I decided to research, read and learn a bit more about the Russian history as well as the life of Shostakovich.
On one fine morning in April 2008, I was looking up some pianists’ information when I came across the name of David Jalbert. Haven’t heard of him before, I was surprised when I actually stopped what I was doing and listened attentively to a sample clip of Prelude No.13 of Opus 87 by Jalbert.
Since I fully enjoyed the interpretation, I decided to purchase the two-CD set on Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op87.
Unlike Nikolayeva’s, I do not seem to feel agitated or repelled by Jalbert’s interpretation.
Rather, Jalbert’s interpretations seem to give me some implications as to how much the music of J.S. Bach must have been influencing and inspiring Shostakovich when he worked on and composed this cycle of 24 Preludes and Fugues in the 1950s.
If you’re like me who have had some reservations on the music of Shostakovich, I strongly recommend you go ahead and check out the mp3 samples of Jalbert’s interpretation on Amazon now.
I hope you’ll enjoy the samples as much as I did.
Have a happy listening!
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