Jarrett: Shostakovich – 24 Preludes & Fugues op. 87 (2 CD, FLAC)

Performer: Keith Jarrett
Composer: Dmitri Shostakovich
Audio CD
SPARS Code: DDD
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks+cue)
Label: Ecm Records
Size: 381 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes

Disc 1:
01. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87 – Prelude & Fugue No.1 in C major
02. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87 – Prelude & Fugue No.2 in A minor
03. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87 – Prelude & Fugue No.3 in G major
04. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87 – Prelude & Fugue No.4 in E minor
05. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87 – Prelude & Fugue No.5 in D major
06. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87 – Prelude & Fugue No.6 in B minor
07. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87 – Prelude & Fugue No.7 in A major
08. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87 – Prelude & Fugue No.8 in F sharp minor
09. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87 – Prelude & Fugue No.9 in E major
10. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87 – Prelude & Fugue No.10 in C sharp minor
11. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87 – Prelude & Fugue No.11 in B major
12. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87 – Prelude & Fugue No.12 in G sharp minor

Disc 2:
01. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87 – Prelude & Fugue No.13 in F sharp major
02. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87 – Prelude & Fugue No.14 in E flat minor
03. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87 – Prelude & Fugue No.15 in D flat major
04. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87 – Prelude & Fugue No.16 in B flat minor
05. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87 – Prelude & Fugue No.17 in A flat major
06. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87 – Prelude & Fugue No.18 in F minor
07. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87 – Prelude & Fugue No.19 in E flat major
08. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87 – Prelude & Fugue No.20 in C minor
09. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87 – Prelude & Fugue No.21 in B flat major
10. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87 – Prelude & Fugue No.22 in G minor
11. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87 – Prelude & Fugue No.23 in F major
12. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87 – Prelude & Fugue No.24 in D minor

I want to give it 6 stars

This is my one of my favorite CDs of all time. I also have the Nikolaeva version, but I like this one better. I have bought it three times: once for me, once as a gift, and once to listen to in the car. I don’t know what to say about some of the recent reviewers who pan it. I don’t think they listened to the same CD as I did (or as many times as I have, i.e. hundreds). I bought it first in 1992 (I don’t think the release date shown as 2000 is accurate).

This is the first Shostakovich recording I ever bought, and since then I have become a big fan of Shostakovich, particularly his string quartets.

I think it is a shame that not many modern composers have gone through the 24 major and minor keys, and have written prelude-and-fugue pairs on them, the way Bach did, and Shostakovich after Bach.

Update, Feb 2013 – I just bought it a fourth time (as MP3s). I reviewed this originally in 2003. This is still one of my favorite records of all time.