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Donald Macleod presents an excerpt from Shostakovich's surreal debut opera, The Nose, plus his contemporary Alexander Mosolov's extraordinary First Piano Concerto.

Donald Macleod explores Shostakovich's brilliant youth - and the work of five extraordinary lost musical souls - amidst the turmoil and extraordinary originality of 1920s Russia.

Wednesday's programme features Shostakovich at his zaniest - and perhaps most brilliantly original. After two scurrilous arrangements of Scarlatti, Donald Macleod presents excerpts from Shostakovich's first opera, "The Nose", a surreal tale of nasal amputation and Kafkaesque bureaucracy.

The programme finishes with a masterpiece not by Shostakovich, but by his contemporary Alexander Mosolov - a man who would later be the only major composer to be sent to the gulag. Mosolov's Piano Concerto no.1 is like no other in classical music - a bewildering procession of melodies and influences that mirrors the chaotic artistic melting-pot of 1920s Soviet Russia.

1 hour

Music Played

  • Dmitry Shostakovich

    Two Pieces by Scarlatti for wind orchestra, Op.17 (1928)

    Performer: USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra Soloists' Ensemble / Gennady Rozhdestvensky

    • BMG Classics 74321 59058 2 -.
  • Dmitry Shostakovich

    "The Nose", op.15 (1927-8)[excerpts]

    Performer: Interlude (percussion)

    • Scene III: Brr! Brr!.
  • Dmitry Shostakovich

    Act II

    Performer: Vladimir Sulisky (Kovalyov), Sergei Skorokhodov (Ivan), Vadim Kravets (newspaper clerk), Sergei Romanov (a countess's servant placing an ad) Performer: Mariinsky Soloists, Opera + Chorus / Valery Gergiev

    • MARIINSKY MAR0501.
  • Dmitry Shostakovich

    Alexander Mosolov: Piano Concerto no.1 (1928)

    Performer: Rusudan Khuntsariya (piano) Performer: USSR Symphony Orchestra / Vladimir Kozhukhar

    • MELODIYA 74321562632.

Broadcasts

  • Wed 2 Feb 2011 12:00
  • Wed 2 Feb 2011 22:00

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