Ah, everybody knows the piece. It's one of the most famous, and arguably most important chamber music pieces of the 20th century. How many composers these days use artificial cello harmonics in their writing? MANY, I can assure you. But as far as I'm concerned, nobody has topped the ghostly passage at the beginning of the trio, even close. Unbelievable! (the passage, not that nobody has topped it yet). The story about Shosty's relationship with the communist party authorities and the role his chamber music played in his defiance (?) of the party has been told many times. The 8th String Quartet ("dedicated to the victims of fascism") is ripe with symbolism and double meanings (some say) and the Trio uses a lot of the same materials.
The first time I learned the trio was for one of my DMA recitals in Ann Arbor in 2000: when I think of the piece, I also think of violinist Sasha Margolis. Sasha's sound is perfect for the piece - dark, lush, passionate, multifaceted... and completely and totally his own! It's amazing how the music transports us in time and back to a totally different life pre-kids, pre-job, still in school playing the cello 8-12 ours every day...
I was also a very lucky girl to work on the 8th String Quartet repeatedly: the Owla Quartet learned it first, studying it with the Borodin Quartet (particularly the cellist Valentin Berlinsky). The Borodin Quartet, of course, played it for Shosty himself, who (as the story goes) left the room without a word when they were done with the performance. As the Quartet was leaving, Mrs.Shostakovich ran after them and said that the maestro was so moved by the performance that he was incapable to speak. So the stories and the sounds I associate with the piece come straight from the source: bomber planes, bombs dropping in Moscow, assembly lines of machines... horrifying things, powerful music. The trio is the same way. Like I said, I am a lucky girl! I think just the fact of getting to play this music is cause for celebration, and to have repeats is just perfectly amazing.
The first time I learned the trio was for one of my DMA recitals in Ann Arbor in 2000: when I think of the piece, I also think of violinist Sasha Margolis. Sasha's sound is perfect for the piece - dark, lush, passionate, multifaceted... and completely and totally his own! It's amazing how the music transports us in time and back to a totally different life pre-kids, pre-job, still in school playing the cello 8-12 ours every day...
I was also a very lucky girl to work on the 8th String Quartet repeatedly: the Owla Quartet learned it first, studying it with the Borodin Quartet (particularly the cellist Valentin Berlinsky). The Borodin Quartet, of course, played it for Shosty himself, who (as the story goes) left the room without a word when they were done with the performance. As the Quartet was leaving, Mrs.Shostakovich ran after them and said that the maestro was so moved by the performance that he was incapable to speak. So the stories and the sounds I associate with the piece come straight from the source: bomber planes, bombs dropping in Moscow, assembly lines of machines... horrifying things, powerful music. The trio is the same way. Like I said, I am a lucky girl! I think just the fact of getting to play this music is cause for celebration, and to have repeats is just perfectly amazing.
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