While Shostakovich's serene Piano Quintet in G minor is presented as the main attraction on this RCA disc, the lion's share of the program is devoted to the less celebrated and more challenging works of his student and friend, Galina Ustvolskaya. Yet as important as her music was to Shostakovich, and as critical as his teaching was to her development, the pieces recorded here do not clearly or convincingly illustrate the connections between them. Indeed, Ustvolskaya's Octet is strikingly unlike Shostakovich, for the ...
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While Shostakovich's serene Piano Quintet in G minor is presented as the main attraction on this RCA disc, the lion's share of the program is devoted to the less celebrated and more challenging works of his student and friend, Galina Ustvolskaya. Yet as important as her music was to Shostakovich, and as critical as his teaching was to her development, the pieces recorded here do not clearly or convincingly illustrate the connections between them. Indeed, Ustvolskaya's Octet is strikingly unlike Shostakovich, for the language is more stringently atonal, and the layering techniques, brutal ostinati, and disjointed rhythms are more like Stravinsky or Varèse. Composition No. 3 (Benedictus qui venit) and the Symphony No. 5, "Amen," are equally avant-garde in approach, and also show a strong preoccupation with religious matters, utterly foreign to anything in Shostakovich's secular output. So when the sweet, Classically oriented Piano Quintet follows Ustvolskaya's darkly dissonant works, one may be skeptical...
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Add this copy of Shostakovich: Piano Quintet; Ustvolskaya: Octet; to cart. $15.13, new condition, Sold by Importcds rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Sunrise, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2005 by RCA Red Seal.
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Dmitry Shostakovich; Galina Ustvolskaya. New. New in new packaging. USA Orders only! Brand New product! please allow delivery times of 3-7 business days within the USA. US orders only please.
Add this copy of Shostakovich: Piano Quintet; Ustvolskaya: Octet; to cart. $19.78, new condition, Sold by newtownvideo rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from huntingdon valley, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2005 by RCA.
