Shostakovich: Viola Sonata, Op. 147

The young German cellist Leonard Elschenbroich has rapidly made a name for himself as one of the most exciting and gifted cellists of his generation. Leonard Elschenbroich’s many awards include: the Leonard Bernstein Award, Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, Eugene Istomin Prize, Pro Europa prize, Landgraf von Hessen price of the Kronberg Academy, Nordmetall Prize of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festiva and the Firmenich Prize of the Verbier Festival.

From 2004–2008 he was supported by the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation, performing with her on a number of occasions, including a European tour. He is also part of the BBC New Generation Artists programme, and appeared at the 2012 Proms season together with his chamber music partners Nicola Benedetti and Alexei Grynyuk. Together with Benedetti and Grynyuk he embarks on a major chamber music tour of Scotland in March. Rachmaninov’s cello sonata was composed at the same time as the Second Piano Concerto. Although as one would expect from such a great pianist-composer, the piano part is demanding, it never threatens to overwhelm the cello, and the result is a beautifully balanced and passionate work.

Shostakovich’s viola sonata was his last composition, finished on his deathbed. Sketches show that the composer was also considering a second cello sonata for his old friend Rostropovich – then living outside the USSR. The arrangement on this CD for cello was made by Daniil Shafran with the dying composer's blessing. In the Viola Sonata, as in his Fifteenth Symphony, Shostakovich alludes to several of his previous works, from the Suite for two pianos Op.6 to the opening movement (De Profundis) from his Fourteenth Symphony. He also quotes from other composers’ works, Berg’s Violin Concerto and, most obviously, throughout the final Adagio, from the first movement of Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata, which he uses as the basis for a kind of free meditation.

Lawrence Power makes the second of his appearances in this month’s release lists, this time with his regular pianist partner Simon Crawford-Phillips in the chamber music of Shostakovich. The centrepiece is the Viola Sonata, Shostakovich’s last completed work, premiered posthumously, on what would have been the composer’s sixty-ninth birthday. Its ravishing slow finale reworks the opening of Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata—a tribute to a composer he revered.

Shostakovich the film composer also takes a bow, in the form of The Gadfly, with its famous ‘Romance’ beloved of violinists everywhere. That this works just as compellingly on the viola is triumphantly displayed in the arrangement made by Vadim Borisovsky (founding violist of the Beethoven Quartet), one of the Five Pieces he recast from Shostakovich’s original.

Shostakovich’s 24 Piano Preludes have also proved irresistible to transcribers and here we have the seven brilliantly reworked by a pupil of Borisovsky, Yevgeny Strakhov.

Shostakovich’s sonata is the final work of a mortally ill composer, full of enigmatic hints, echoes and reminiscences. In contrast, Bloch’s compositions are examples of self-confident national art with a predilection for a meditative underlying mood.

A “New Formula” for Viola and Orchestra

Throughout its history, the viola has served primarily as an ensemble instrument, with its solo applications largely restricted to recital music like solo sonatas or other works with piano. Mainstream composers through the ages have indeed written fine concertos or other works for viola and orchestra, but they are (for various reasons) quite uncommon compared to concertos featuring more “glamorous” instruments like piano or violin. While some of their creators have also reworked their creations into piano versions, the reverse process – converting original piano parts into orchestral scores – is almost unheard of … until now. In this – violist Roger Myers’ first album on Delos – our artist offers the remarkable fruits of a “new formula” to expand the limited repertoire for viola and orchestra: well-known chamber masterpieces by Robert Schumann (Märchenbilder) and Dmitri Shostakovich (the Sonata for Viola and Piano: his final work) that have been skillfully transformed into impressive and colorful orchestral works. Myers commissioned the third work (Suite for Viola and Orchestra) from composer Michael McLean (who also orchestrated the Schumann) in memory of his mother. The Schumann and the Shostakovich are presented here in world premiere recordings. Myers, a violist of international renown, offers exceptional performances that combine deep feeling, glowing tone and stunning virtuosity. He collaborates here with the legendary London Symphony Orchestra under the sensitive baton of Michael Francis.

Oleg Kargen and Sviatoslav Richter perform on this recording of Shostakovich sonatas.

While Rachmaninov evokes purity in his 'Vocalise', Shostakovich intones a swansong, a song of death. In the warm timbre of Gérard Caussé's viola and the generous sonority of Brigitte Engerer's piano, all the melancholy and tenderness of Russia finds eloquent expression.