Shostakovich

[immisk]

I've been listening to a lot of Shosty recently, especially his Preludes and Fugues for the piano.

What's y'all's opinion of Shosty? Which pianist do you prefer?

I myself am keen on the latter recording of Tatiana Nikolayeva, but I'd like to broaden my horizons.

[visitor]

his music is exceedingly well written and there is so much more to him than the P and F, but they are a great place to start and a super important entry in the catalog of repertoire for first half of the 20th century.
My vote for pianist is Viardo. Hands down. My current teacher was a pupil of him for over 10 years and the insights she shares that she learned from him are profound on a level i hadn't experienced before.
Viardo's teacher (one of them) was a pupil of the old gaurd's giant. Heinrich Neuhaus , so Boris Petrushansky would be worth checking out though i haven't taken time to sit down and listen to alot of his recordings, but I would guess it's as safe a bet as any , but yeah check out Viardo, most of the time for various composers, his interpretations will be at the top of the best pile

1   0:00  C Major, Moderato
  2     0:57  A Minor, Allegretto
  3     1:45  G Major, Andante
  4     3:32  E Minor, Moderato
  5     5:21  D Major, Allegro vivace
  6     5:51  B Minor, Allegretto
  7     7:05  A Major, Andante
  8     7:53  F# Minor, Allegretto
  9     8:51  E Major, Presto
  10    9:30  C# Minor, Moderato non troppo
  11   11:11  B Major, Allegretto
  12  12:05  G# Minor, Allegro non troppo
  13  13:13  F# Major, Moderato
  14  14:12  E Flat Minor, Adagio
  15  16:34   D Flat Major, Allegretto
  16  17:26  B Flat Minor, Andantino
  17  18:47  A Flat Major, Largo
  18  20:21  F Minor, Allegretto
  19  21:11  E Flat Major, Andantino
  20  22:41  C Minor, Allegretto furioso
  21  23:22  E Major, Allegretto poco moderato
  22  24:08  G Minor, Adagio
  23  26:25  F Major, Moderato
  24  27:34  D Minor, Allegretto

[chopinawesome]

Prelude No.15 is very good

[nw746]

Sviatoslav Richter for the Preludes & Fugues. He didn't ever record all 24, though to be fair they are uneven in quality anyway. Emil Gilels turns in a very good Sonata No. 2, Op. 61, my favourite Shostakovich piano piece. I haven't heard Tatyana Nikolayeva's recordings in a long time, but they are also pretty solid as I recall. Russian pianists who worked closely with the composer is generally what to look for. Or who are the composer:

That said, Vladimir Ashkenazy's Shostakovich is also surprisingly good, not a composer I would have ordinarily associated him with.

[tinyhands]

I really like his Dances of the Dolls suite, short but fun pieces.
I'm also reading Julian Barnes The Noise of Time" which is a Novel  based on his life, quite enjoying it.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jan/22/the-noise-of-time-by-julian-barnes-shostakovich-stalin-review

[immisk]

Or who are the composer:

That said, Vladimir Ashkenazy's Shostakovich is also surprisingly good, not a composer I would have ordinarily associated him with.

This is the kind of thing I was looking for ^_^ I don't know how I missed Shosty himself playing them when I was looking up recordings.

He certainly plays them more quickly than I have been!

Thank you!

[nw746]

Here's another good one—Shostakovich and his BFF, composer Moisei Weinberg, performing an arrangement of the Symphony No. 10 for piano four hands.