ZEITGEIST

Three Decades of Russian Music for Cello and Piano

 

Artists: ALMATI DUO 

Dmitrij Gornowskij, Cello
Amir Tebenikhin, Piano

 

Total duration: approx. 65–70 minutes
The duration of the programme can be adapted as needed.

 

 

 

CONCEPT AND PROGRAMME DESCRIPTION

 

At the heart of this programme lie two of the most compelling cello sonatas of the 20th century — works that captivate not only through their musical depth and expressive density, but through their intense connection to the political tensions and historical fractures of their time.

 

Dmitri Shostakovich’s Sonata for Cello and Piano in D minor, Op. 40 (1934) was composed during a time of mounting personal uncertainty and increasing political pressure in Stalinist Russia. The music oscillates between lyrical intimacy, bleak melancholy, and sharp irony — forming a personal statement of defiance and vulnerability. This sonata is not merely a chamber work; it is a psychological portrait, a coded resistance, and a reflection of profound artistic solitude.

 

Sergei Prokofiev’s Sonata in C major, Op. 119 (1949), written in the post-war Soviet Union, carries a very different tone. It is music of restraint and reflection, yet full of inner energy and luminous contrast. The cello and piano engage in a dialogue shaped by symmetry and surprise, tension and release. Beneath its neoclassical clarity lies a subtle drama that speaks of resilience, reconciliation, and the quiet strength of artistic endurance.

 

Framing the two sonatas is Prokofiev’s Ballade in C minor, Op. 15 — a rarely performed early work written in 1912. Youthful, impassioned, and boldly dramatic, it showcases the young composer’s instinct for narrative, gesture, and emotional scope. Within the programme, the Ballade functions as a prologue: a glimpse into a world on the brink of modernity, charged with idealism and ambition.

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Together, these three works span a musical arc across three turbulent decades of Russian history — from the energy of youthful vision, through the darkness of repression, to the tempered wisdom of maturity. Interpreted by Dmitrij Gornowskij and Amir Tebenikhin, these pieces are not presented as relics of the past, but as vibrant artistic documents that continue to resonate with the challenges and contradictions of our time.

 

 

 

PROGRAMME OVERVIEW

 

Dmitri Shostakovich
Sonata for Cello and Piano in D minor, Op. 40 [approx. 25 min]

 

Sergei Prokofiev
Ballade for Cello and Piano in C minor, Op. 15 [approx. 12 min]

 

— Interval —

 

Sergei Prokofiev
Sonata for Cello and Piano in C major, Op. 119 [approx. 25 min]

 

The duration of the programme can be adjusted.