Shostakovich: Piano Works
Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor, opus 61; Three Fantastic Dances, opus 5; Five Preludes, sans opus B; Lyric Waltz from Dances of the Dolls, sans opus S; Guitars (listed as Short Piece) and Spanish Dance from The Gadfly, opus 97; Nocturne from The Limpid Stream, opus 39; Aphorisms, opus 13; Polka from The Age of Gold, opus 22.
Vladimir Ashkenazy (piano).
Decca 470 649-2 DSA. Hybrid multichannel/stereo SACD/stereo CD. TT 68:14.
Recorded Lyndhurst Hall, Air Studios, London, March and April 2003.

Ashkenazy's return to the piano stool has been welcome, not least because one of the composers he is concentrating on is Shostakovich. His traversal of the Twenty-four Preludes and Fugues, opus 87 is an obvious front-runner, so what of this collection: the Second Sonata and a constellation of smaller pieces?

Shostakovich dedicated this sonata to the memory of his piano teacher Leonid Nikolaev, but it is an enigmatic piece, not as demonstrative as the Piano Trio he would dedicate to Sollertinsky the next year. Commentators have tended to be respectful rather than enthusiastic, but it's a work that grows with acquaintance, and even without making an apparent mark on the repertoire has notched up over two dozen recordings.

Despite a relatively long first movement (7:30) Ashkenazy opens with a fairly quick tempo, smoothing out the downward spiral and turning it into a simpler (and slightly headlong) rush. Among the other contenders, Gilels (BMG 09026 63587) bounces down each of the steps, leading more naturally into the re-echoing first subject, while both Stone (Brilliant 6137-5) and Yudina (Arlecchino ARL 13; deleted) take a more tiptoe approach. Overall in this movement Ashkenazy lacks the ferocity of Gilels but emphasises the architecture.

The second movement (and especially the opening) needs a strange, halting quality, while still keeping up the momentum. The 'modernist' fourths-based harmony and combination of erratically rhythmic counterpoint and simple melody-plus-block-chords can make it reminiscent of early Shostakovich, and (perhaps influenced by the other repertoire on the disc) this is Ashkenazy's view, carrying it through into the more overtly melodic section and the following jerky waltz. But where Gilels makes this, the least immediately attractive of the three movements, thoughtful and contemplative, Ashkenazy sometimes drifts off into mere aimlessness.

The finale is a magisterial set of variations; perhaps a tribute to Nikolaev's own set which Shostakovich performed as a young man. Starting with a monophonic unravelling of the thirty bar theme, it shifts through many moods though quickly turns away from some of the most heartfelt moments as if they are too painful to bear, before going back to accept death, with the return of the opening material bringing final closure. This kaleidoscope of moods, and especially the desolate penultimate section, is where Ashkenazy scores over Gilels who, in the more withdrawn parts, projects mournfulness rather than being mournful.

After the seriousness of the sonata there are several shorter pieces, beginning with the early Three Fantastic Dances and Five Preludes. The former are traversed rather deliberately but the Preludes work better; the bell effects of the second piece almost make you forget its melodic paucity, while the silvery textures of the last (with its pre-echo of the Eleventh Symphony) work beautifully.

Next up: four transcriptions. But, in the maze of reworkings and retitlings, Decca get confused, claiming the source as the Dances of the Dolls. Only the Lyric Waltz comes from that set (via the Ballet Suite No. 2 to The Limpid Stream). The next two are from The Gadfly (post-dating the alleged source); what is unimaginatively called Short Piece is Guitars (also the first part of the film suite's No. 7, Prelude), while Spanish Dance is better known as People's Holiday or Folk Feast. The Nocturne is, as claimed, from The Limpid Stream. So where are these versions from? Various publishers' transcriptions have been recorded: volume 42 of the old Collected Works contains Guitars, and Shostakovich himself recorded it in 1955 (Revelation 70002, deleted, under the bogus title Main Theme; reviewed in DSCH No. 9). Inger Wikstrom introduced me to it as Melodic Moment on her 1981 LP (Bluebell Bell 126). Whatever the attribution, none would make the list of Shostakovich's profoundest utterances but all are enjoyable. I did miss the orchestra occasionally, especially in the Spanish Dance, perhaps because there is no feeling of the danger of careering off the road; but they all come off well enough.

After these individual bagatelles, the thirteen and a half minutes of the Aphorisms constitute the other major part of the disc. These (in Ronald Stevenson's opinion 'unpleasant') pieces have caused no end of trouble and not just for the composer. Both Weichert (Accord 202812; deleted) and Varvarova (LDC 278 1012; deleted) mangle most of them, symptomatically missing the point of the fanfares in the Marche Funebre. But it hasn't all been bad news for the cycle; Raymond Clarke (Divine Art 25018; reviewed in DSCH No. 18) does a fine job. Ashkenazy brings out the desperate trying on of masks; his rendition of the Canon makes me wonder what he would make of real Webern. One problem seems to be that people regard this as Avant Garde music with a capital A and G, and therefore to be played completely without humour. Ashkenazy can't be accused of that; his Marche Funebre features fanfares of over the top violence, but he brings a slyer wit to the opening of the Recitative, as if he can't quite believe what he's reading, while the Dance of Death (the title of which Shostakovich used for a scatological pun), with its perfunctory Dies Irae has an appropriately madcap quality. Yet the cycle has some tolling bass lines and fractured melodies that hint at something deeper than brittle humour, and it finishes with a genuinely affecting Lullaby. However, the bell sounds again drift away, leaving us slightly disconcerted.

Finally, with a complete change, the much arranged Polka from the Age of Gold, a frequent encore piece. There are many recordings of this, even in its solo piano incarnation, perhaps the least satisfying as it is shorn of the comic glissandi. Ashkenazy doesn't pull it around too much, letting the melody and harmony do the work, making us momentarily forget the orchestral version. It is a great way to finish the disc.

Collections of Shostakovich's piano music are not uncommon and the buyer's choice will depend to a degree on the repertoire. Ashkenazy's disc would make an almost ideal introduction, representing the whole of the composer's career outside opus 87, and a wide range of styles from the weird Aphorisms to the intensely serious Sonata, with a sprinkling of charming lighter pieces to leaven it all. Their rapidly shifting moods are sketched with lightning rapidity and accuracy (ironically, rather like the finale of the Sonata). But if that was the idea, the ordering doesn't quite work. Perhaps listeners would like to experiment with programming their CD players to give a more satisfying sequence because, with the weighty Sonata (almost half the disc's length) at the start, the rest can seem like a winding down or a series of encores of Kissin-ian length. But don't let that put you off the disc as a whole.

John Riley
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