Shostakovich: Violin Sonata, Op. 134 (Live)

Featuring

Igor Karško
Sebastian Bohren
Camerata Zürich
Dmitri Shostakovich

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Composition History

Dmitri Shostakovich wrote his Violin Sonata Op. 134 in 1968 as a 60th-birthday tribute to the leading Soviet violinist David Oistrakh.

Composer Biography

Shostakovich's later works, including this sonata, were overshadowed by fears caused by heart problems, difficulty in walking, and the fear of death.

Compositional Technique

The sonata's final movement, a set of variations on a passacaglia theme, includes a quotation of the twelve-note row from Alban Berg's Violin Concerto, a work also connected to the theme of death.

Performer Biography

Sebastian Bohren, the violinist on this recording, plays an instrument by G.B. Guadagnini (Parma 1776) from a Swiss private collection.

Recording & Production

This recording uses a version of the Violin Sonata for violin, string orchestra, and percussion, which was prepared by Michail Zinman and Andrei Pushkarev.

Composer's Artistic Vision

A convinced atheist, Shostakovich viewed death as absolute nothingness, and believed one should accustom themselves to the thought of death by writing about it.

Compositional Technique

The Violin Sonata Op. 134 incorporates elements of Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-note technique, which was frowned upon in the Soviet Union during Stalin's era.