Yulianna Avdeeva
Dmitri Shostakovich: 24 Preludes & Fugues, op.87
Reformierte Kirche, Seon AG, 2025-02-22
2025-03-04 — Original posting
Yulianna Avdeeva, Rezital mit den 24 Präludien und Fugen von Dmitri Schostakowitsch — Zusammenfassung
Es überraschte nicht dass Yulianna Avdeeva die hochgesteckten Erwartungen mehr als erfüllte. Es war ein eindrückliches Rezital mit insgesamt rund 140 Minuten Musik (mit einer kurzen Pause von 20 Minuten), technisch und musikalisch anspruchsvoll. Trotz der enormen Vielfalt von 48 Sätzen schien die Aufmerksamkeit des Publikums zu keinem Zeitpunkt überstrapaziert: bleibende Eindrücke und ein begeisterndes Erlebnis. Man darf gespannt sein auf die Aufnahme, welche die Pianistin für diesen Sommer angekündigt hat!
Contents
- Introduction
- Dmitri Shostakovich, 24 Preludes and Fugues, op.87
- Pre-Concert
- Performance & Review
- Part I: Preludes and Fugues No.1 – 12
- Prelude and Fugue No.1 in C major
- Prelude and Fugue No.2 in A minor
- Prelude and Fugue No.3 in G major
- Prelude and Fugue No.4 in E minor
- Prelude and Fugue No.5 in D major
- Prelude and Fugue No.6 in B minor
- Prelude and Fugue No.7 in A major
- Prelude and Fugue No.8 in F♯ minor
- Prelude and Fugue No.9 in E major
- Prelude and Fugue No.10 in C♯ minor
- Prelude and Fugue No.11 in B major
- Prelude and Fugue No.12 in G♯ minor
- Part II: Preludes and Fugues No.13 – 24
- Prelude and Fugue No.13 in F♯ major
- Prelude and Fugue No.14 in E♭ minor
- Prelude and Fugue No.15 in D♭ major
- Prelude and Fugue No.16 in B♭ minor
- Prelude and Fugue No.17 in A♭ major
- Prelude and Fugue No.18 in F minor
- Prelude and Fugue No.19 in E♭ major
- Prelude and Fugue No.20 in C minor
- Prelude and Fugue No.21 in B♭ major
- Prelude and Fugue No.22 in G minor
- Prelude and Fugue No.23 in F major
- Prelude and Fugue No.24 in D minor
- Conclusions
- Part I: Preludes and Fugues No.1 – 12
- Relevant CD Recording(s) by Yulianna Avdeeva
Introduction
| Venue, Date & Time | Reformierte Kirche, Seon AG, 2025-02-22 19:00h |
| Series / Title | Seetal Classics — Piano Recital Yulianna Avdeeva |
| Organizer | Seetal Classics, Seon AG |
| Reviews from related events | Concerts featuring Yulianna Avdeeva Media Reviews featuring Yulianna Avdeeva Media Comparison Review featuring Shostakovich’s op.87 Earlier Piano Recital featuring Shostakovich’s op.87 (Igor Levit) |
The Artist: Yulianna Avdeeva
In the early days of this blog, in the fall of 2011, I posted my first, still sketchy concert review. At the time, I didn’t expect concert reviews to become a major (or even the main) part of my blog. So I called it a “biographic note”. That blog post covered not one, but three events: two private recitals by Russian pianist Yulianna Avdeeva (*1985, see also Wikipedia), as well as her performances and victory at the 2010 International Chopin Competition in Warsaw. Since then, I have attended more concerts with this artist. I have also reviewed several of her recordings (see the links above). Therefore, there is no need to re-post the artist’s biography.
Yulianna Avdeeva continues to fascinate, she was and still is my all-time favorite in the works by Frédéric Chopin (1810 – 1849). Her repertoire, of course, goes far beyond Chopin. It includes Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886), Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750), and the Viennese classics. She has since embraced an ever-expanding list of composers. Highlights of her repertoire include French composers such as Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918), and of course Russian composers such as Modest Mussorgsky (1839 – 1881), Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893), Sergei Prokofiev (1891 – 1953), and Dmitri Shostakovich (1913 – 1975). More recently, she has added composers that caught her attention, such as Władysław Szpilman (1911 – 2000) and Mieczysław Weinberg (1919 – 1996).
Program
Yulianna Avdeeva’s recent recording “Resilience” (Pentatone, 2023, see below) already included a work by Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich (1913 – 1975): the early Piano Sonata No.1, op.12 (1926). It was, of course, not her first encounter with this composer (see her Wikipedia entry). But now, 50 years after Shostakovich’s death, that recording seems like a prelude to the program in this recital: it featured a single, large work, Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues, op.87.
In the coming months, Yulianna Avdeeva will take this work on a concert tour around the world (Berlin, Barcelona, Tokyo, Beijing, Canada, Czech Republic, and finally to the Shostakovich Festival at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig). The Seon recital marks the beginning of this tour. In addition, the artist has already announced on social media that a recording of her interpretation of Shostakovich’s op.87 will be released in the summer of 2025!
Setting, etc.
Seetal Classics holds its concerts in the Reformed Church in Seon in the canton of Aargau. It’s a small hall church on a hill overlooking the village of Seon. It was built on foundations from the early 15th century. The present building (nave) was erected in 1708. As a concert hall, it seats of up to 230 people (including 56 on the organ balcony in the back half of the hall). My seat was in the second row on the left side of the balcony. For the recital, the baptismal font was moved to the far end of the hall, so that the concert grand could occupy the center of the podium, which is raised two steps above the floor of the nave. The instrument was a Steinway D-274, set up and tuned by Bachmann Pianos, Wetzikon.
Dmitri Shostakovich, 24 Preludes and Fugues, op.87
I don’t need to re-introduce and describe Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues, op.87, as I have written about Shostakovich’s op.87 more than once already:
- In June 2027, I attended a piano recital in Zurich, in which the Russian-German pianist Igor Levit (*1987) performed the complete op.87 in a single recital
- more importantly, I have posted an extensive comparison of several recordings of Shostakovich’s op.87, including interpretations by
- Tatiana Petrovna Nikolayeva (1924 – 1993)
- Vladimir Ashkenazy (*1937)
- Alexander Markovich Melnikov (*1973)
- Boris Petrushansky (*1949)
- Konstantin Scherbakov (*1963)
- Oxana Shevchenko (*1987, partial recording only)
Both these postings contain short descriptions of the composition(s). For detailed information on the work please see the relevant Wikipedia entry. The comparison posting not only contains descriptions of five complete interpretations, but it also features a table with detailed timings (and ratings) for all recordings.
A Sketchy Work Description
Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues, op.87 was inspired by a (partial) performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier (two volumes, each a collection of 24 preludes and fugues through all major and minor keys) by Tatiana Nikolayeva. This was in 1950, on the occasion of the first International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition, celebrating the 200th anniversary of Bach’s death. Dmitri Shostakovich was part of the judging panel in that competition.
Like Bach, Dmitri Shostakovich covered all 24 major and minor keys, each with a Prelude and a Fugue. However, the two composers did not choose the same order:
- Bach started with C major, followed by C minor, then moving up in half-tone intervals: C major, C minor, C♯ major, C♯ minor, D major, etc.
- Shostakovich also started with C major, but then appended the parallel minor key, A minor, then not moving in half-tone intervals, but rather following the circle of fifths, i.e.: C major, A minor, G major, E minor, D major, B minor, A major, F♯ minor, E major, C♯ minor, etc.
Pre-Concert
Around the concert, as well as during the (short) intermission, an apéro was served in the community hall in the adjacent building. Parallel to that, 45 minutes prior to the recital, Benjamin Nyffenegger (*1984, solo cellist in the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, member of the Oliver Schnyder Trio, and artistic director of Seetal Classics) gave a 15-minute introduction into the recital. This was in the form of an interview with Yulianna Avdeeva.
Instead of introducing the artist (who really didn’t need to be introduced to this audience), Benjamin Nyffenegger asked Yulianna Avdeeva about her first / previous encounters with Shostakovich’s op.87. She mentioned the recording by Tatiana Nikolayeva (an obvious choice and a must for anyone interested in this work). She also referred to a recital by her former teacher Konstantin Scherbakov in Zurich, over 10 years ago. Unfortunately I missed this, though I did discuss his recording, see above. The interview also included a brief presentation of Shostakovich’s composition, with short excerpts at the piano.
Performance & Review
The recital was in two parts, seperated by a short, 20 minutes intermission. In my comments, I follow the structure and sequence of the composition, “walking through the recital”. However, given the large number of pieces (48), I keep my comments short and sketchy, avoiding descriptions that can be found elsewhere (e.g., in Wikipedia).
Part I: Preludes and Fugues No.1 – 12
Prelude and Fugue No.1 in C major
Prelude, first impressions: even before the piece reached its climax in bar 52, I wrote down “expansive dynamics”. This is to be taken with a grain of salt. At this point, it is not clear to the listener what corresponds to pp, p, mf, f, etc. in the given acoustic setting. In fact, the artist may take a moment to adjust the dynamics to the acoustics with the audience. What I mean by this: with the heightened attention in the first bars, the dynamics seemed to reach mf, if not (almost f)—but the true f only revealed itself at the climax. What I can say for sure: I noted Yulianna Avdeeva’s careful articulation, her diligent and lively dynamics. She remained faithful to the score, observing the many crescendo and decrescendo forks—especially crescendo forks followed by pp(!).
Fugue (attacca): from a restrained pp, Yulianna Avdeeva shaped beautiful, broad dynamic arches, intense, legato. Yet, she maintained clarity in the web of four voices. And I noticed the artist’s subtle use of agogics, e.g., the subtle ritenuti around highlighted notes—an art she applies so masterfully in her Chopin interpretations!
Prelude and Fugue No.2 in A minor
Prelude: Lightness, agility, combining legato sempre with clarity in articulation…
Fugue (attacca): joyful, resolute, boisterous, brilliant and virtuosic
Prelude and Fugue No.3 in G major
Prelude: A majestic, sonorous chorale theme in double octaves, soon joined by a joking / grotesque marcato theme (mostly in quavers), consequently building up towards the towering chords at the transition to the fugue.
Fugue (attacca): initially light, elegant even, excellent in the staccato articulation, joyful, building up to a boisterous (again!) climax
Prelude and Fugue No.4 in E minor
Prelude: atmospheric—Yulianna Avdeeva avoided a motoric, static meter by using subtle agogics in the quaver line. The serious, introverted attitude of the movement contrasted with the lucid, heavenly “window to another world” in bars 31 – 37. The conclusion in the following bars, back in E minor, was merely a brief reminiscence that died out in ppp.
The fugue (attacca) opened quietly, intimately, highly differentiated in the dynamics within each instance of the theme. The transition to the Più mosso section was seamless. Here, the artist carefully and gradually built up the dynamics towards the broad ff climax, ending the piece with the theme in the bass: solemn, grandiose.
Prelude and Fugue No.5 in D major
Prelude: Not primarily intimate, but serene, expressive, sometimes playful, lovely. In some of the E/F♯ crotchets in the last bars, one of the notes was missing—too soft in the touch, or a voluntary omission?
The Fugue (attacca): fluid, sonorous in the broad build-up, with lively dynamics, emphasizing the rhythmic structure within each instance of the fugue theme.
Prelude and Fugue No.6 in B minor
The Prelude is not a baroque French overture, despite the double-punctuated rhythm. Yulianna Avdeeva focused on the Allegretto annotation, playing faster than most interpretations I know, but keeping the demisemiquavers very short throughout the piece. Rather than softening the rhythm, she used differentiated dynamics and touch (sharp, resolute in the f opening, more gentle, mellow in the softer parts), combined with a flexible tempo.
Fugue (attacca): a compact, solemn theme is combined with a light, almost playful comes to form a dense, complex web of four voices in a wide dynamic arch. Excellent playing!
Prelude and Fugue No.7 in A major
Prelude: gentle, light-hearted, unpretentious, with a subtle touch of melancholy—one of the “most baroque” of the preludes (ignoring the modulation and extra chromatics, of course).
Fugue (attacca): for me, the most charming, gentle and serene fugue imaginable, delicate, heavenly—one of the highlights of the entire cycle, simply beautiful!
Prelude and Fugue No.8 in F♯ minor
Prelude: playful, light, joking, humorous, often grotesque, if not bizarre…fun!
Fugue (attacca): What a contrast! Pondering, longing, sadness, waves of seemingly endless pain, desolation, hopelessness—one of the strongest, most expressive fugues in the cycle.
Prelude and Fugue No.9 in E major
Prelude: an “enigmatic” piece with its two voices, each in double octave parallels, reaching into the extremes of the keyboard. A prime example for the use of the third (middle, sostenuto) pedal. Interestingly, the piece demonstrates a “big” attitude, albeit all in p and pp.
Fugue (attacca): another, strong contrast! For once a fugue with “only” two voices. The fugue theme, however, is intricate, rhythmically complex, at least in Yulianna Avdeeva’s very fluid tempo: virtuosic fun, often feeling like a fugue for 3 or 4 voices!
I noticed this not only here, but throughout the recital: the intonation and tuning of the Steinway D-274 were flawless, impeccable (and the E major prelude is especially critical in this regard!). I actually didn’t expect anything less, considering that the instrument was set up by Bachmann Pianos, Wetzikon!
Prelude and Fugue No.10 in C♯ minor
Prelude: The beginning sounds like a close imitation of the Prelude No.7 in E♭major, BWV 852 from Book I of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, now obviously in a minor key. Where Bach inserts a short demisemiquaver cadenza and a fugato, Shostakovich switches to a short, chorale-like passage. He then resumes the “Bach theme”, but soon takes it into his own world with virtuosic semiquaver passages and impressive piano sonority, eventually weaseling off in clownish figures. The prelude once again demonstrated the superb tuning of the instrument.
The Fugue (attacca, legato sempre) starts quietly, with the theme in the bass. As the movement grew, it revealed a truly artful four-part fugue, a masterwork honoring Bach’s great achievements in this genre. Unlike Bach’s large (organ) fugues, however, this one ends on a solemn pp.
Prelude and Fugue No.11 in B major
Prelude: It was a pleasure to see Yulianna Avdeeva explore Shostakovich’s humorous / fun side!
Fugue (attacca): resolute in the staccato theme head, virtuosic and playful in the semiquaver comes, demanding—a superb display of pianism!
Prelude and Fugue No.12 in G♯ minor
Prelude: Shostakovich obviously conceived his op.87 as a two-part cycle. The first part of 12 Preludes and Fugues ends in a grandiose Passacaglia. Yulianna Avdeeva formed an impressive, dynamic arch across this piece—solemn, but not exaggerating the “hugeness” of the piece, also revealing the restrained, intimate moments.
Fugue (attacca): Rhythmically intricate, full of syncopes, complex, virtuosic, resolute (marcatissimo), a broad arch with a dramatic ff climax, but with a gentle, introverted ppp ending.
(Intermission)
Part II: Preludes and Fugues No.13 – 24
Prelude and Fugue No.13 in F♯ major
The second part opened with a serene, gentle and romantic Prelude: it felt like a peaceful spring afternoon, with birds singing…
The Fugue features an equally serene, heavenly and solemn theme, a huge arch with a towering climax in five voices (here, the notation is in three systems), fading into silence at the end.
Prelude and Fugue No.14 in E♭ minor
The Prelude immediately changed the atmosphere, with its menacing bass tremolo and sinister harmonies and intervals in the melody line, an impressive, urging and demonic climax. The interpretation reminded me of French Impressionism.
Fugue: a serene, almost harmless theme—”only” three voices, but building to intense climaxes in two broad arches—and ending again in subtle ppp.
Prelude and Fugue No.15 in D♭ major
The Prelude begins as a cheerful, if not joking folk dance with pronounced accents that quickly develops into a swirling motion. Once at the ff, Yulianna Avdeeva switched to a slightly faster tempo—now more than playful, vehement.
The Fugue is an exciting, thrilling piece: fast, rhythmically confusing with its frequent changes between 3/4, 4/4, and 5/5 meters, polyrhythms, hemioles, jazzy syncopations, and the like. Excellent playing: precision, rhythmic agility..
Prelude and Fugue No.16 in B♭ minor
Prelude: The annotation “Andante, ♩=152″ is not a contradiction. The Andante refers to entire bars, the metronome number to the underlying 3/4 waltz rhythm. The quiet opening theme is present throughout the movement, first alone, then as foundation for a flowing quaver line, then “accelerating” to quaver triplet chains, on to semiquavers, and finally returning to the quiet opening. The transitions were natural, almost imperceptible.
The Fugue confirmed what I had already noticed in the Prelude. Yulianna Avdeeva avoided a meticulous reproduction of the rhythmic structure. Shostakovich’s writing naturally leads to a “soft/flexible meter”, with its mixture of quavers, quaver triplets semiquavers, demisemiquavers, demisemiquaver quintuplets. In a way, the small notes all felt natural, like intricate, free and truly baroque, fantasizing ornamentation. Beautiful, warm and expressive, intimate, almost dreamy.
Prelude and Fugue No.17 in A♭ major
Prelude: light, happy, playful, almost like a carefree children’s song / rhyme (with momentary, subtle harmonic perturbations), accompanied by relentless (but not mechanical) quaver motion.
The Fugue theme is equally light, joy- and playful. As simple and carefree as the theme seems, it becomes part of a densely woven web of four voices: technically demanding, but a joy to listen to in Yulianna Avdeeva’s hands!
Prelude and Fugue No.18 in F minor
Prelude: singing, highly differentiated, diligent dynamics, not only in the arches, but also within the theme melody.
Fugue: a pastorale of sorts, calm, beautiful, lucid, serene. Transparency, structural clarity.
Prelude and Fugue No.19 in E♭ major
The Prelude begins with a beautiful, solemn, grandiose chorale. It brought to mind “The Bogatyr Gates” from “Pictures at an Exhibition” by Modest Mussorgsky (1839 – 1881). This is alternating with a mysterious and capricious staccato theme, first above a fading bass drone, finally descending into the darkness of the deep bass.
The Fugue is another, complex masterpiece. A score with a “strict” attitude, often dissonant. Yulianna Avdeeva managed to overcome the strictness, filling the piece with musicality.
Prelude and Fugue No.20 in C minor
Prelude: Another chorale-like theme—this time not necessarily “huge”, but serious, full of gravity, pondering. Intermittently, the singing of a bird in the descant lightened up the scene—but even that ended in subtle sadness, melancholy.
Redemption or transfiguration? The Fugue (almost pure baroque) is based on a theme that initially breathes heavenly innocence. Most of the piece is p or pp, rising to f and expressive complexity around the climax. As the climax approached, I noticed one of the few instances where the tempo subtly accelerated, giving a very slight impression of impatience: intentional?
Prelude and Fugue No.21 in B♭ major
Prelude: Effortless virtuosity and agility in the semiquaver line, but also playfulness—as busy as a swarm of bees.
Fugue: Not “Bach” this time, but a “true Shostakovich” fugue with a capriciously jumping theme—”only” three voices, but technically demanding and growing into amazing power and complexity.
Prelude and Fugue No.22 in G minor
The Prelude is structurally simple, a continuous chain of quaver pairs with crotchet chords as accompaniment. Timeless, absolute music, in a serious, contemplative mood.
The Fugue took the listener back to the spirit of Bach’s Fugues—at first. As complexity and density increased, modulations (not dissonances) made it clear that this is 20th century music, even though the theme could almost have been taken from one of Bach’s fugues.
Prelude and Fugue No.23 in F major
Prelude: Truly Adagio (calm), with highly differentiated agogics: not strictly metric, but treating every motif according to its weight and function (e.g., the slight widening of the first semiquaver turn!): thoughtful, intimate, full of warm emotions.
Fugue: Back to “only” three voices and a seemingly simple theme? This turned out to be deceptive, as the movement progressed, the composer created a very complex, dense web of voices. I found myself wanting to listen to this again and again, to untangle the complexity…
Prelude and Fugue No.24 in D minor
Prelude: A grandiose, solemn, “big” first part in which Yulianna Avdeeva exploited all the ff sonority that the Steinway D-274 could offer—and amazingly, the intonation hadn’t degraded a bit! The softer, introverted second part presents / anticipates the theme of the fugue, as a romantic reflection. For once, a small quibble: the third g/b in right hand in bars 32/33 was missing: a mishap, or a reading from a different source? To be fair, I only noticed this because I had the score in front of me.
The final Fugue (of course) beats all the others in complexity. It is a double fugue with two themes, in four voices, quiet, restrained, almost murmuring at first, but soon building to an impressive climax and finale, virtuosic, power-draining—an astounding piece and interpretation!
Conclusions
A captivating, gripping interpretation, maintaining drive and flow: excellent tempo control, never losing tension, (almost) never letting the tempo run away. Yet, the performance never felt didactic or academic, was always so highly musical! The interpretation was touching in the warm intimacy of the lyrical moments, stunning in the imposing power and complexity of the dense, polyphonic climaxes.
Tempo: there is little point in meticulously measuring a performer’s tempo against Shostakovich’s metronome markings, see my detailed comparison post. My impression was that Yulianna Avdeeva preferred fluid rather tempi over slow ones. However, nothing was exaggerated, nothing felt “oversized” or overly broad or dramatic. At the same time, her playing reflected the great “weight” of Shostakovich’s op.87. It left a strong and lasting impression on the audience. This was evident not only in the long applause, but also in the echoes on social media, which were enthusiastic throughout.
It will be very interesting to study this interpretation more closely when Yulianna Avdeeva’s recording is released! Information on the upcoming CD set will be added below in due course.
Relevant CD Recording(s) by Yulianna Avdeeva
Yulianna Avdeeva: “Resilience”
Works by Szpilman, Shostakovich, Weinberg, Prokofiev
Yulianna Avdeeva, piano
Pentatone PTC 5187 073 (CD stereo, ℗ / © 2023)
Booklet: 12 pp., en
Once details are available, I will add a reference to Yulianna Avdeeva’s recording of Shostakovich’s op.87.
Hi Rolf,
Greeting from China.
Thanks for posting this concert review, I can visually image the performance and interpretation via your precise descriptions and comments of the concert! It gives me more expectation of Yulianna’s musical dialogues to discuss each pair of the preludes and fugues every week via her social media in the upcoming weeks, and the concert which will be hold in June in Beijing China. Moreover, I am very impressed of your link between Shostakovich Piano Sonata No.1 and Preludes and Fugues.
Finally I think the May 30th Leipzig concert is the “peak” of the tour, because the Beijing and Tokyo concerts will be hold in June.
Thanks again!
Regards,
Legrix