24 Preludes And Fugues For Piano Op.87 Vol 1 / Recueil

Piano ou Clavier - Piano - Just back from a trip to Leipzig in the early autumn of 1950 where he heard Bach's Well-Tempered Klavier at the Bicentennial Bach Competition played by the Russian pianist Tatiana Nikolaeva, Shostakovich began his own series of 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87, based on Bach's model. He composed them quickly, starting on October 10, 1950, and finishing on February 23, 1951. While his work would pay homage to Bach, Shostakovich's work would have several fundamental differences. First, the order of the individual pieces would be organized around the circle of fifths with a prelude and fugue in the relative minor following each major key piece rather than in ascending semi-tonalorder of Bach's work. Second, Shostakovich's pieces would be composed in order - that is, C major - A minor followed by G major - E minor followed by D major - B minor - and, more significantly, this order would have a sort of subliminal narrative sub-text, taking the music from the 'innoce