NEW RECORDING (AUDIO/VIDEO): DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH: PRELUDE & FUGUE OP. 87 NO. 12 IN G# MINOR

Following a successful performance at Melbourne’s exciting new venue Tempo Rubato, I went into the AdAudio recording studio in Brighton and documented my interpretation of Shostakovich’s checkpoint Op. 87 work.

Shostakovich's Preludes and Fugues Op. 87 are celebrated among the body of 21st-century polyphonic work as a vibrant and bold testament to the ultimate work of J.S. Bach, Das Wohltemperierte Clavier. Shostakovich was inspired to undertake this mammoth act of composition having visited Leipzig in 1950 for The International Bach Competition, marking the bicentennial of Bach's death.
This is where Shostakovich came to hear the Russian pianist Tatiana Nikolayeva, who carried away the Gold Medal from the Competition. What followed was a composition flurry from the very impressed Shostakovich. He completed his own cycle of 24 Preludes and Fugues within the space of six months!

This Prelude and Fugue in G# minor stands structurally within the cycle as the halfway point, and it may be for this reason that it adopts a relatively outstanding set of characteristics.
The Prelude operates upon a recurring Passacaglia, a grave and obstinate 3/4 bass figure upon which a broad, notably Slavic melodic framework is gradually and masterfully built over the course of several variations.
The Fugue is a thoroughly eccentric affair, in four parts, marked Allegro and marcatissimo, and maintaining an obviously jazz-influenced 5/4 metric throughout. The 'recapitulation' with its sudden change in colour and subtle shift in modality allows the driven nature of the piece to gradually and tastefully settle into a tierce de Picardie, a final Bach-inspired touch.