"If they cut off both hands, I will compose music anyway holding the pen in my teeth."

[pangaia]

To celebrate the birth of Dmitry Shostakovich, I offer his last work, the VIOLA SONATA, OP 147.
Yuri Bashmet and Mikhail Muntyan, from 2016
"‘If they cut off both hands, I will compose music anyway holding the pen in my teeth." DS

DEUTSCHE GRAMMAPHON
Today, we commemorate the birthday of Dmitri Shostakovich. Learn more about the composer and listen to his music: http://bit.ly/ShostakovichDG
‘If they cut off both hands, I will compose music anyway holding the pen in my teeth.’ Dmitri Shostakovich was one of the most gifted composers of the last century - and spent almost his entire life within a totalitarian system. It was left to him to bear witness to the corruption and cruelty of his age, and its many more subtle privations. Remarkably, he did so not through overt polemic but through satire, a sensitive choice of poetic references and a renewal of so-called 'absolute music' in his symphonies and his chamber music.

Description by Robert Cummings [-]
This was Shostakovich's last work, completed about a month before his death. Because of his advanced and painful arthritis, as well as his unsteady hand and bad eyesight, the composer showed an increasing tendency to write sparsely scored orchestral compositions (Symphonies No. 14 and No. 15, for example) and many chamber pieces in his last years, finding their reduced scoring easier to manage. Shostakovich died on August 9, 1975, of heart failure, compounded by advanced cancer of the lungs. He was also aware that he was going blind. For all the suffering he was enduring in his last days, the composer did not invest his Sonata for viola with nearly the morbid and gloomy moods found in most of the late quartets. He himself spoke about the work, calling the first two movements merely a "novella," and "scherzo," respectively. He was a trifle more detailed about the finale, however, describing it as "an adagio in memory of Beethoven." He also summed up the music in general as "bright and clear." This last characterization of the work is misleading, as there is a feeling of resignation throughout, even if it is, to an extent, counterbalanced by a strong sense of serenity. In the end, the work seems to be an expression of the composer coming to terms with his ineluctable and unhappy fate.

The first movement, marked Moderato, is mournful, if serene, featuring sparse textures in the piano writing. The central panel (Allegretto) is actually playful in places, though one also finds a healthy dose of acid, typical of so many of the composer's later chamber pieces. There is a Russian, slightly exotic flavor to the music here, as well. The finale is the longest and most substantive of the three movements. Its Adagio marking was a favorite of the composer at this time -- indeed, his Quartet No. 15 (1974) featured six consecutive Adagios. The mood in the finale is less gloomy than in that dark work, and the composer makes a brief reference to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.
While much of the work is subdued and uncomplicated, it does offer considerable challenges to the performers. The sonata was premiered privately on September 26, 1975, and publicly on October 1. A typical performance of the Sonata for viola lasts between 35 and 40 minutes.

[fierywoman]

1. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you for putting this up --

I'm a violist. I've always revered Bashmet but this is something more! Did you see this?:
https://slippedisc.com/2017/09/on-shostakovichs-birthday-a-long-lost-viola-work-is-found/
Again: a thousand thanks.