Shop Now

Sunday Times

But there are only two [works for violin and piano]: the 1952 Sonata and the 1964 Duet, the second even sparer than the dauntingly austere first. Both evince a style one can fancy as at once an expression of suffering under Stalin and defiance of his rule.

In place of the irony of Shostakovich is a sort of masochistic rebarbativeness, bordering on noise. Bow-taps at the sonata’s close evoke the dreaded knock on the door.

But there are only two [works for violin and piano]: the 1952 Sonata and the 1964 Duet, the second even sparer than the dauntingly austere first. Both evince a style one can fancy as at once an expression of suffering under Stalin and defiance of his rule.

In place of the irony of Shostakovich is a s ort of masochistic rebarbativeness, bordering on noise. Bow-taps at the sonata’s close evoke the dreaded knock on the door.

A brilliantly executed centenary tribute.