Shostakovich's Preludes and Fugues

[Atriod]

Just reviving/revisiting this topic to say how much I have been enjoying the recording by Hannes Minnaar since it was released about 6 months ago.  Although there are two or three other recordings I would not want to be without, Minnaar is clearly my first go-to at the present.  His soft-centered approach - legato playing, generally middling tempi, even dynamic, pellucid piano tone very well recorded - won't suit everybody.  Those who wish to hear something of the ascerbic side of Shostakovich won't find it here.  But I like it just fine - previously one of my favourites was Kori Bond (not much liked by Madiel upthread), and Minnaar inhabits much the same space but better in every way, particularly in his luxurious piano tone so well captured.

I've also listened to or at least sampled a few other new-to-me recordings in the last 6 months - Konstantin Scherbakov, seems very good, worthy of consideration in the top rank, rather close or dry recording - David Jalbert, inclined to quicker tempi, didn't really grab my attention much - Roger Woodward, an older recording this but still OK for sound, and consistently very speedy, sometimes outdone only by the composer himself (who seemed to like 'fast' when playing the piano).  I liked Woodward enough to seek out some of his other recordings and found much to enjoy, from Bach to Takemitsu.

However my other main standbys and recommendations alongside Minnaar remain Tatiana Nikolayeva (either II (Melodiya/Alto) or III (Hyperion)) for her authoritative take - though note these are very much 'her' readings and often radically different from the composer's own on record - remarkable when you consider how closely asssociated they were during the time this music was composed.  And Jenny Lin for her contrasted approach to Minnaar or Nikolayeva, hard, fast and articulate, and possibly the best piano recording of them all.  Also for a straight down the middle version, very good in every way, Caroline Weichert gets a mention from me, but possibly, I don't know, maybe bland to a fault - I must admit that although I do admire this version, personally I'm always going to gravitate to one of Minnaar, Nikolayeva or Lin.


Minnaar

   
Nikolayeva (Alto, and Hyperion)


Lin

I've been listening to Minnaar and Jalbert, both new-ish to me. I find Minnaar the less interesting of the two, with Jalbert giving me a more involving experience.

To keep it brief and use a single piece - E minor fugue. Minnaar sounds like he has compartmentalized this fugue into three distinct sections and it never flows or sounds all that emotionally involving, that compartmentalization gives it a detached quality. It reminds me most of how Víkingur Ólafsson approaches Bach. Jalbert on the other hand is gorgeously interpreted and it sounds like a single fugue visioned as a whole as his dynamic changes throughout the piece aren't as radically sharp but shape themselves in a more natural way. Overall Jalbert has left me extremely impressed.

I still have not made it past P/F 8 with Levit which is strange since I usually listen to his recordings a couple of times when they come out (exception being the Beethoven cycle which I spread over long period as I didn't care much for it). I guess I had op. 87 in my heavy rotation when his came out.

Jalbert has the potential to rise to the top of my favorite cycles.

[Atriod]

Has anyone heard this? The Shostakovich op. 87 is very cool, almost detached. I've never heard any other pianist interpret it like this. I'm not entirely convinced with alternating them with Shchedrin.

[Le Buisson Ardent]

I recently acquired the Keith Jarrett recording on ECM and loved the performance. Other versions I own: Nikolayeva (Melodiya), Ashkenazy (Decca), Melnikov (Harmonia Mundi) and Scherbakov (Naxos). They're all excellent in their own way. Melnikov remains my favorite as there seems to be a somberness to his performance that fits the mood of the work. Kurt Sanderling once remarked that this work was like Shostakovich's most intimate diary.

[aukhawk]

Yulianna Avdeeva - this release is scheduled for July but it is already (start of June) available on streaming and on first listen I felt it was "up there" with the best in a crowded field so I've had another listen, more concentrated this time with a few comparisons.


Shostakovich Preludes & Fugues Op.87, Yulianna Avdeeva

First I will mention that a 'bonus' Prelude & Fugue in C-sharp minor (same key as Op87-10) is included at the end of this recording.  The music is interesting enough (only the Prelude is actually by DSCH) but I think it's a bit unfortunate to have it hanging there at the end, ready to break the spell after the final, great, Fugue 24.  Be ready with the Stop button!

Then I will get the sound out of the way - I don't think it is very good but maybe it's just me.  When Levit came out I was critical of the sound on that - "clangorous" was the word I used - and it seems maany others didn't hear that at all.  Avdeeva is the polar opposite, sound-wise.  She is pictured seated at a Steinway but it sounds to me as though the undertakers have been in and thrown a black velvet cloth over the piano.  OK I exaggerate but the low notes in particular just don't sound very piano-like - no attack, no sense of the strings vibrating.  I did wonder if it was my ears or my equipment, but a quick listen to the likes of Sherbakov, Weichert, Lin, Bond and above all, Minnaar - using Prelude 4 in E minor for comparison - reassured me that all was well and a well-recorded piano still sounds like a well-recorded piano.  Minnaar I think stands a bit above the rest in this regard, although maybe the recording is a bit too close for some.  Anyway, maybe it's not as big a deal as I'm making of it here - I mention it, and there's an end of it.

In performance, Avdeeva seems quite undramatic, more inclined to find the poetry.  This is very evident in her rendition of Prelude 14 in E-flat minor. which in most hands is a bit of a hammer-fest.  Instead she really goes out of her way to flatten the dynamics and turn this into a 'pleasant' piece - really unlike any other recording I've heard, and attractive to my ears - I like pleasant, I don't like banging.

This introspective apprach pays dividends in the slow fugues - where I also became conscious of a slight disconnection of the hands, mostly right before left.  On closer listening to some other recordings, it seems most pianists do this - but there's something about Avdeeva that makes me a bit more aware of it, and it's a bit of a distraction.  In the most important, pivotal, Fugue 13 in F-sharp, she adopts a slighly faster tempo than I would like, but still manages a good and thoughtful outcome.  The composer DSCH himself plays this fugue in 5m20, but Avdeeva takes just 4m28.  Nikolayeva demonstrates very convincingly that the music can take it, clocking all of 7m40 on her Hyperion recording - extreme, but she carries it off magnificently.  Weichert at 6m40 is also impressive and better recorded.  At the other extreme, Jenny Lin takes just 3m50 and seems to miss the point entirely.

This music is not all slow fugues and on the other hand there are the 'quick and quirky' preludes.  Before listening to Avdeeva, I had just been listening to Yuja Wang making light of Prelude 2 in a minor - could anyone be more mercurial?  Well, it turns out that, at 54s she is not the new speed record holder, no not by a long way!  Nikolayeva in her first recording clocks 46s - and, although we don't have a recording of this piece by the composer himself, we know he preferred fast tempi and one would suppose that he approved of Nikolayeva's approach.  But wait, Woodward, astonishingly, polishes this off in 42s!  Speed records aside, I have to say Avdeeva (56s) finds more musicality in this than any of the others mentioned, and more than my own overall favourite, Minnaar (60s).  In general though I would say her musical approach is comparable to that of Minnaar - both tend towards understated, thoughtful, throughout the 48 pieces.  Avdeeva perhaps more so.

I should mention by the way, that Yuja Wang uses sustain thoughout Prelude 2 - most unusual, almost everyone else including Nikolayeva play this staccato, and the written score shows no ties to suggest otherwise.  Kori Bond (56s) - whose recording I like a lot - also uses sustain here.  Wang of course has not recorded the full Op.87 - but has provided a taster, 3 preludes, 2 fugues, as a filler to her recent Concerto recordings.

One of her fugues is (of course, this is Yuja after all) the fearsome Fugue 15 in D-flat - and again she is very fast (and rather impressive) but not the record-holder.  I think this is Levit, determined to show his chops in this complicated piece.  Avdeeva by comparison starts a bit more sedately and, towards the end, sounds to me a teeny bit laboured.  There is a sense of relief as she sounds the final flourish - the test is over!  Did she pass?  The jury is still out.

[aukhawk]

Yuja Wang recently gave us a taster of her way with Op.87 by recording P&F Nos 2 and 15, plus Prelude 8, plus Prelude 5 from the earlier Op.34 (which in Yuja's hands lasts all of 23 seconds).  These are fillers to her recent recordings of the two Piano Concertos.


4 Preludes, 2 Fugues - Yuja Wang

These are all 'quick and quirky' pieces but the main event is I suppose the Prelude & Fugue 15 in D-flat which is, predictably, right in Yuja's wheelhouse.  Hard to know, from this, what she might make of the slow fugues like No.8 or No.16, but we can only hope that maybe, a few years down the line perhaps, she'll give the complete Op.87 a proper go.

[Madiel]

I saw the Avdeeva last night. Another one to add to the list, when I haven't moved on the list for... it might be over a year?

DELAYED EDIT: Oh my goodness, it's actually about three years. Three!