| Price: Sek. 100 (3CD) |
These extraordinary pieces were composed between late 1950 and early 1951, in the last terrible years of the Stalin regime. Having been invited to Leipzig for the bi-centenary celebrations of Bach’s death, Shostakovich found himself co-opted onto the jury of the first Bach Competition. This intense contact with the music of the great German composer seems to have stimulated him in the composition of these works. The first performance of the entire cycle was given on two evenings in December 1952 in Leningrad, played by the winner of the competition, Tatyana Nikolayeva. With its independent character, this opus 87 was immediately attacked for its “formalist” and “against the people” tendencies, though the pieces represent a genuine milestone, a magnificent cycle and a demonstration of independence and creative willpower.
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