Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (Дми́трий Дми́триевич Шостако́вич)
‘Songs and Romances’
Margarita Gritskova – mezzo-soprano; Maria Prinz – piano
In this programme, you will hear songs by Dmitry Shostakovich, from light-hearted early experiments to his last work. They reflect the tragic course of his artistic life in conflict with politics. By the mid-1930s, Shostakovich had made a name for himself as a promising young champion of new Soviet music. But then, after the sensational success of his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk and before the Fourth Symphony was premiered, he was hit by Stalin’s denunciation. The opera was judged ‘rubbish instead of music’, and Shostakovich was never again able to write without some degree of ambiguity. Threatened with persecution and exile. He learned to ‘write between the lines’, something he knew particularly well in the intimate genre of song. Again, he practised the art of framing things in such a way that it was possible to read between the lines and even ‘code’ .
The Russian lyrics are spoken by Vera Toutchkova.
Dmitri Shostakovich – 1 Krylov’s Fable op.4 ‘The Dragonfly and the Ant’ (Стрекоза и Муравей) (text: Ivan Krylov)from: 6 Romances on Japanese Poems op. 21a 1. ‘Before Suicide’ ‘Перед самоубийством’ (日本語). Russian translation: Alexandr Brandt 2. ‘For the first and last time’ ‘В первый и в последний раз’ (日本語) Russian translation: Alexandr Preis.
From: 4 Poems of Pushkin op. 46 – ‘Возрождение (Renaissance).
from: Jewish Folk Poetry op. 791. ‘Колыбельная’ (Lullaby) (translation from Yiddish Vera Zvyagintseva)
Предостережение’ (Warning) (translation from Yiddish Nikolay Ushakov) 2.
Сонет LXVI (Sonnet LXVI ) (Tyr’d with all these) (Shakespeare) (transl. Boris Pasternak) 2.
2. Королевский поход (Nurseryrime) The King’s Campaign (‘The Grand Old Duke of York’ or ‘The King of France went up the Hill’)
1. ‘Penthozalis’ (Πεντοζάλης), пентозаны,) translated from Greek by Samuil Borisovich Bolotin
2. Zolongo (Ζάλογγο), (Золонго) (translated from Greek by Tatyana Sikorskaya)
3. From: op. 100 ‘Farewell Grenada’! (Прощай, Гренада!) (translated from Spanish by Samuil Borisovich Bolotin)
4. From: op. 100 ‘Little stars’ (Звёздочки)( translated from Spanish by Tatyana Sikorskaya)
‘Immortality’ (Я словно б мертв, но миру в утешеньеop.) 145 no. 11 (1974), from: Suite on poems by Michelangelo Buonarroti. (transl. Abram Efros)
1. Two Romances on texts by Lermontov op.84 (Два романса на слова Ю. Лермонтова) a. ‘Ballade’ (Баллада) b. ‘Morning in the Caucasus’ (Утро на Кавказе).
2. From: Six poems by Marina Tsvetayeva op. 143 ‘No, there was drum roll’ (Нет, бил барабан перед смутным полком).
Prelude and Fugue no.7 in A from: 24 Preludes and Fugas – Hannes Minnaar, piano
