Me, I'm a fan!
Though I know none of those "hommage" pieces you mentioned, I do know his
Concerto retro, a neo-baroque concerto which is quite interesting.
That piece is on this CD (gotta love Acte Préalable):
... which also has his amazing Solo Flute Sonata -- a piece I never get tired of. It is like one of Elliott Carter's virtuosic solo wind pieces I think, with a lot of cool effects, but also very intricate and lyrical. (And a lot of fun).
That CD also has his jazzy-sounding 12-tone Piano Sonata, and the 16th string quartet entitled "Au-delà d’une absence".. here is an explantion from the composer:
Shostakovich planned the composition of 24 string quartets in all keys. He did not, however, manage to realise his plan entirely. Nevertheless, the 15 works of this genre that he did compose represent one of the most important chapters of twentieth-century chamber music.
When I visited the composer, who had meanwhile become seriously ill, in Moscow in the spring of 1974 for the last time, I asked him a question – possibly an inappropriate one in this case: “And when will the 15th String Quartet come? Is it possibly already being written?” “No, there is nothing like that,” replied Shostakovich, “I haven’t written down anything yet…” And as if to justify himself, he added: “I was ill, after all… but I’ll write it, I’ll surely write it. You know, I even have two new quartets in my head. The next one will be an adagio – a single large adagio, maybe a grave… in one movement. And the 16th will be in three parts, with a fugue in the finale, you understand, with a double fugue. The second movement, very lyrical…”
The 15th String Quartet appeared shortly thereafter, completely in the tempo of adagio. Shostakovich did depart from his original idea in that he chose a six-part form instead of a single movement. But he retained the existing tonal plan with the key of E-flat minor. Concerning the work’s successor, which probably was to have been written in B major, he made the following statement in the presence of Dmitri Tsyganov, the first violinist of the Beethoven Quartet: “I decided to write the 16th Quartet and to dedicate it to you, the Beethoven Quartet, with your new personnel.” (D. Tsyganov, Polveka vmeste in: Sovietskaya Muzyka 9/1976, p. 31)
This was not to be. In this respect, Au-delà d’une absence represents an imaginary continuation of Shostakovich’s cycle and is my bow before the great composer. In writing it, I submitted myself entirely to his style without, however, quoting from his works. The world premiere took place on 5 June 1998 in Hamburg, performed by the French-Belgian Quatuor Danel.
In harmony with Shostakovich’s intention, the String Quartet consists of three movements. The first, a sonata movement, is based on two themes: the first is dramatic, the second contains lyrical elements. I had Shostakovich’s words in mind the whole time whilst composing the melodic, very cantabile second movement. The third movement, a double fugue, ensues without a break. An epilogue follows as a kind of post scriptum. The work concludes in pianissimo, as do most of Shostakovich’s quartets.
(Krzysztof Meyer)
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Source URL)
I don't enjoy the quartet THAT much but I've only heard it 2 or 3 times, and never concentrating...
It isn't that easy to hear all of Meyer's other quartets, and the only other one I know on disc is No. 8 -- a dark and in places very aggressive work, on this DAFO Quartet CD:
Oh wait -- there are more on Acte Préalable, for example 10 and 11. I must order those then.
(But SQ No. 3 I have only in a mp3 of unknown origin.)
I also love Meyer's Piano Concerto (and I'm sure I've mentioned it on the old forum so this is going to sound very repetitive). It is a very powerful piece, with a weird little jazz-like 2nd movement, and a racuous blaring sort of fanfare orchestral conclusion against complex and wild piano writing. It is very cool, one of my favorite recent piano concerti !!
(It is on a Koch disc along with Musica Incrostata, but I can't find a link; probably OOP).
One more thing: I've always wanted to hear his sonorist opera "Cyberiada", based on the book by Stanisław Lem -- imagine, a sci-fi topic opera written in an early-Penderecki-like style! At least that's how I imagine it. It hasn't been recorded though, unless I'm wrong. Does anyone have a bootleg copy of some kind ?
