D. Shostakovich. Moderato for cello and piano
Levon Mouradian - cello
Levon Mouradian - piano
Moderato for Cello and Piano can now be added to Shostakovich’s few cello compositions.
The author’s manuscript of this piece is kept in Dmitri Shostakovich’s personal depository in RSALA (rec. gr. 2048, inv. 1, f. 25, pp. 8‑9). The manuscript was found among the pages of the holograph of Cello Sonata in D minor, Op. 40, where it was most likely placed by the composer himself. It is possible that this Moderato is a movement of the Sonata not included in its final version. However, neither the paper on which the piece was written, nor the colour of the ink makes it possible to claim this with complete certainty. It is possible that the composer placed this manuscript in that of Sonata, Op. 40 in keeping with genre, so to speak.
The article and piece was first published in: Sovetskaya muzyka, No. 9, 1986, p. 45 (Manashir Yakubov: “Unknown Composition by Dmitri Shostakovich: Moderato for Cello and Piano”).