# Shostakovich's viola sonata



## Clouds Weep Snowflakes (Feb 24, 2019)

His last composition, composed just weeks before his death; I didn't listen to it yet, any good recording to buy or at least something on the web to listen to? What do you think about it? Is it true it got very positive responses?


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## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

Why not this one?


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## Littlephrase (Nov 28, 2018)

Just to be clear:

The Violin Sonata Op. 134 is _not_ his last composition; the _Viola_ Sonata Op. 147 is.


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## Clouds Weep Snowflakes (Feb 24, 2019)

Littlephrase1913 said:


> Just to be clear:
> 
> The Violin Sonata Op. 134 is _not_ his his last composition; the _Viola_ Sonata Op. 147 is.


Thank you for correcting me, I'll ask a mod to change the title.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

philoctetes said:


> Why not this one?


Ha! I've never really listened closely to this one. Now's my chance! Many tnx for the YT link!


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

Shostakovich dedicated the sonata to Oleg Kagan's teacher, the violinist David Oistrakh:

"According to the dedicatee, the sonata was "greeted enthusiastically everywhere", and indeed, the third movement was the Russian piece on the set list for violinists at the 1970 Tchaikovsky Competition. The autograph resides in the Glinka Museum of Musical Culture in Moscow.

Oistrakh collaborated with Shostakovich on several of the composer's major works, purportedly contributing his own insight and suggestions based on the violin's strengths and technical limitations. The work's inscription reads: "For the 60th birthday of David Oistrakh", who offered an explanation for its composition:

'Dmitri had been wanting to write a new, second concerto for me as a present for my 60th birthday. However, there was an error of one year in his timing. The concerto was ready for my 59th birthday. Shortly afterwards, Dmitri seemed to think that, having made a mistake, he ought to correct it. That is how he came to write the Sonata ... I had not been expecting it, though I had long been hoping that he would write a violin sonata.'

The unofficial premiere with Moishe Vainberg as pianist happened on 8 January 1969 in the Russian Union of Composers, the official premieres with Richter as pianist happened at Great Hall Moscow Conservatory on 3 May and at the Small Hall of Leningrad Philharmonic on 23 September.

Before the official public premiere in May, Oistrakh and Shostakovich recorded the work informally in the latter's apartment, though the composer's physical handicap (he was diagnosed with polio in 1965) and a relative lack of rehearsal and polish is evident in the performance. Oistrakh later recorded the sonata with Sviatoslav Richter on piano for the official release (USSR Melodiya CM-02355-6 Deep-Blue Stereo Label)." (from Wikipedia)

Here's a tape of the 'official' May 3, 1969 concert premiere, played by Oistrakh & pianist Sviatoslav Richter: 




Here too is violist Yuri Bashmet & pianist Sviatoslav Richter playing Shostakovich's Viola Sonata, Op. 147 in 1985:


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Clouds Weep Snowflakes said:


> His last composition, composed just weeks before his death; I didn't listen to it yet, any good recording to buy or at least something on the web to listen to?


If I were you I'd try to hear Fyodor Dhruzhin and Mikhail Muntien, and Zahari Tchavdarov and Albena Zaharieva.



Clouds Weep Snowflakes said:


> What do you think about it?


One of the themes in his music is about the human response to death, most famously in the song settings of the 14th symphony, and I'd say here too.


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