Composer: Dmitri Shostakovich, Igor Stravinsky
Performer: Judith Ingolfsson, Vladimir Stoupel
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Audite
Catalogue: AUDITE92576
Release: 2011
Size: 219 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Stravinsky: Le baiser de la fée (the Fairy’s Kiss), Divertimento [arr. S. Dushkin for violin and piano]
01. I. Sinfonia
02. II. Danses suisses
03. III. Scherzo
04. IV. Pas de deux
Shostakovich: Violin Sonata, Op. 134
05. I. Andante
06. II. Allegretto
07. III. Largo – Andante
The ‘Divertimento’ for violin and piano by Igor Stravinsky, written in 1932 as an arrangement of his ballet ‘Le Baiser de la Fée’, and the sonata for violin and piano by Dmitri Shostakovich, composed in 1968 on the occasion of David Oistrakh’s 60th birthday, could hardly be more disparate: Stravinsky’s work is a spirited homage to Tchaikovsky, based on songs and piano pieces by that composer, whereas the Shostakovich is a profound and mysterious contribution to the genre of the violin sonata. Both works, however, share a preference for an allegorical and deeply mysterious idiom and symbolism which, in Stravinsky’s case, results in brilliant, but also cool, “music on music”, whereas Shostakovich’s piece appears as a form of internal biography. For interpreters performing both pieces for one disc or in the same concert, one of the main challenges and attractions of this combination lies in tracing the cultural, musical and political experiences and values shared by both composers. In this performance, Judith Ingolfsson and Vladimir Stoupel have accomplished that task with mastery.