Today’s choice is a natural follow-on from a previous listening choice of one of Bach’s 48 Preludes and Fugues. In 1933 Shostakovich wrote a set of 24 Preludes focussing on each of the major and minor keys. Then, in 1950 he started composing a set of 24 Preludes and Fugues for piano, premiered in 1952 by Tatiana Nikolayeva.
Unlike the Bach, they are arranged in pairs by the relative major/minor, so C major with A minor, G major with E minor and so on. He’d done this in 1933, and so had Chopin with his Op.28 Preludes.
Other composers have written for the 24 major/minor keys – Bach, Chopin, Shostakovich, but also Alkan (24 Études), Scriabin (24 Preludes), and Rachmaninoff (24 Preludes, Opp. 3/2, 23, and 32). Liszt had intended to complete a set, but in his Transcendental Études only completed those in flat keys.
Pick and mix from the Preludes and Fugues – how you think his choice of writing fits the choice of tonality and key? Does he maintain sufficient variety between pairs? What connections can you draw between pairs?
Complete set:
Shostakovich playing a selection of the Preludes and Fugues:
The Listening Project Blog 