We continue to share the booklet notes from Delos’ recent release, 20th Century Russian Piano Music, from the noted artist Vladimir Yurigin-Klevke (read the previous ones here). Today we feature his notes on Rodion Shchedrin.
Rodion Shchedrin
Twenty Four Preludes and Fugues for Piano
No. 10 in C-Sharp Minor
Rodion Shchedrin’s cycle of 24 preludes and fugues for piano, a result of several years of work, bears the imprint of the composer’s individual style and genuine inventiveness. Begun in 1964, the first notebook, which has presently made a place for itself in the concert repertoire and curriculum, emerged two years later. The second notebook, 12 preludes and fugues, was completed in October 1970 and 1971. This work Rodion Shchedrin dedicated to his father, the well-known lecturer and musicologist Konstantin Shchedrin.
To write a cycle of preludes in all major and minor keys presents the composer a task which is both extremely difficult and absorbing. Committed to this idea, each composer would fancy himself following in the steps of Bach, whose preludes and fugues of the two volumes of the Well-Tempered Clavier are still the greatest achievement in the world of music.
Prelude No. 10 introduces the listener to the key of C-sharp minor. Here again, one might feel the emerging shadow of Shchedrin’s great predecessor who had used this key to write his own outstanding prelude and fugue (from the first volume of The Well-Tempered Clavier). It appears that in his prelude Shchedrin could not escape the burden of reminiscences which take him into heartfelt reverie and are related to Bach’s piece. This elegant, songful prelude is one of the most impressive in the entire cycle. As for the fugue, it is very original in theme, which is based on an alternating fifth in its full and diminished form, as well as in the insistent triplet pattern and energetic drive. Its condensed form covers a wealth of content.
In the Prelude and Fugue No. 12 the gushing flow of music acquires at places (especially in the fugue) a shade of rage. The alarming, impulsive notes so often heard in Rachmaninoff and Scriabin’s works can be identified in this piece too. However, the language of Shchedrin’s prelude is absolutely individual, bearing no features characteristic of Rachmaninoff or Scriabin. The fugue is like a fantastic tarantella. The insistent recurrence of the initial sound of the theme determines the entire character of the fugue where the rhythmic momentum is never interrupted even for a second, while the glamour of passages is enhanced by contrasting registers and shades of sounds. This virtuoso piece fully reveals the composer’s temperament and his striving for clear-cut musical ideas.