Lawrence Power makes the second of his appearances in this month’s release lists, this time with his regular pianist partner Simon Crawford-Phillips in the chamber music of Shostakovich. The centrepiece is the Viola Sonata, Shostakovich’s last completed work, premiered posthumously, on what would have been the composer’s sixty-ninth birthday. Its ravishing slow finale reworks the opening of Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata—a tribute to a composer he revered.
Shostakovich the film composer also takes a bow, in the form of The Gadfly, with its famous ‘Romance’ beloved of violinists everywhere. That this works just as compellingly on the viola is triumphantly displayed in the arrangement made by Vadim Borisovsky (founding violist of the Beethoven Quartet), one of the Five Pieces he recast from Shostakovich’s original.
Shostakovich’s 24 Piano Preludes have also proved irresistible to transcribers and here we have the seven brilliantly reworked by a pupil of Borisovsky, Yevgeny Strakhov.
Composer: Dmitri Shostakovich Performer: Lawrence Power, Simon Crawford-Phillips
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Tracklisting:
1. Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 147 by Dmitri Shostakovich Performer: Lawrence Power (Viola), Simon Crawford-Phillips (Piano) Period: 20th Century Written: 1975; USSR
2. Preludes (24) for Piano, Op. 34: no 24 in D minor, Allegretto by Dmitri Shostakovich Performer: Lawrence Power (Viola), Simon Crawford-Phillips (Piano) Period: 20th Century Written: 1932-1933; USSR
3. Preludes (24) for Piano, Op. 34: no 18 in F minor, Allegretto by Dmitri Shostakovich Performer: Lawrence Power (Viola), Simon Crawford-Phillips (Piano) Period: 20th Century Written: 1932-1933; USSR
4. Preludes (24) for Piano, Op. 34: no 17 in A flat major, Largo by Dmitri Shostakovich Performer: Lawrence Power (Viola), Simon Crawford-Phillips (Piano) Period: 20th Century Written: 1932-1933; USSR
5. Preludes (24) for Piano, Op. 34: no 16 in B flat minor, Andantino by Dmitri Shostakovich Performer: Lawrence Power (Viola), Simon Crawford-Phillips (Piano) Period: 20th Century Written: 1932-1933; USSR
6. Preludes (24) for Piano, Op. 34: no 15 in D flat major, Allegretto by Dmitri Shostakovich Performer: Lawrence Power (Viola), Simon Crawford-Phillips (Piano) Period: 20th Century Written: 1932-1933; USSR
7. Preludes (24) for Piano, Op. 34: no 14 in E flat minor, Adagio by Dmitri Shostakovich Performer: Lawrence Power (Viola), Simon Crawford-Phillips (Piano) Period: 20th Century Written: 1932-1933; USSR
8. Preludes (24) for Piano, Op. 34: no 10 in C sharp minor, Moderato non troppo by Dmitri Shostakovich Performer: Lawrence Power (Viola), Simon Crawford-Phillips (Piano) Period: 20th Century Written: 1932-1933; USSR
9. Gadfly Suite, Op. 97a: Romance by Dmitri Shostakovich Performer: Lawrence Power (Viola), Simon Crawford-Phillips (Piano) Period: 20th Century Written: 1955; USSR
10. Gadfly Suite, Op. 97a: Interlude by Dmitri Shostakovich Performer: Lawrence Power (Viola), Simon Crawford-Phillips (Piano) Period: 20th Century Written: 1955; USSR
11. Gadfly Suite, Op. 97a: Folk Festival by Dmitri Shostakovich Performer: Lawrence Power (Viola), Simon Crawford-Phillips (Piano) Period: 20th Century Written: 1955; USSR
12. Gadfly Suite, Op. 97a: Barrel-Organ Waltz by Dmitri Shostakovich Performer: Lawrence Power (Viola), Simon Crawford-Phillips (Piano) Period: 20th Century Written: 1955; USSR
13. Gadfly Suite, Op. 97a: Scene by Dmitri Shostakovich Performer: Lawrence Power (Viola), Simon Crawford-Phillips (Piano) Period: 20th Century Written: 1955; USSR
