Dmitri Shostakovich (16 years old): Three Fantastic Dances No. 1 for piano solo op. 5 (op. 1)
Performed by Christian Dillig (piano)
After Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943) and Alexander Skriabin (1872 - 1915), I present Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975) here as an extremely mature composer in his teens. Shostakovich wrote his three Fantastic Dances op. 5 in 1922 at the tender age of 16. The Three Fantastic Dances are occasionally referred to as Shostakovich's op. 1. At that time, however, he could already look back on a composing career spanning several years, which began as a child prodigy. Shostakovich apparently composed his first piano piece at the age of 9 and a series of further piano pieces followed before he composed his Fantastic Dances - one could say - as mature youthful works. In contrast to the present piece, the earlier piano pieces are not yet available on IMSLP (some of the pieces have also been lost):
The Soldier (1915-1917)
Hymn to Freedom (1915-1916)
Minuet, Prelude and Intermezzo (1919-1920)
8 Preludes (1919-1920 - Lost)
Murzilka (1920)
5 Preludes (1920-1921)
The three pieces are immaculately mature and leave nothing to be desired compositionally. Shostakovich presents himself completely as a mature composer on a par with world-class composers of a more mature age.
I got to know the pieces through the selection volume "Ruská a sovietska klavírna tvorba" with Russian piano music, which was published by Opus Bratislava in 1982. This best-of edition contains works by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Skriabin, Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich and Rodion Shchedrin. Most of the pieces are only accessible to advanced pianists and are rated with the highest level of difficulty on pianolibrary.org.
I have also recorded the second dance: • Dmitri Shostakovich (16 years old): Three ...
I have put together a playlist with titles from best-of editions of Russian piano music and would like to present more pieces from such editions in the future:
• Best-of editions and anthologies of Russia...
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