Five Fragments (Shostakovich)

The Five Fragments, Op. 42 by Dmitri Shostakovich is a suite for small orchestra. He drafted the score in a single day, on June 9, 1935.[1] Upon completion, the score laid unperformed until its belated premiere nearly 30 years later. It was first performed in Leningrad on April 26, 1965 by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Igor Blazhkov.[2][3]

Music

The score consists of five brief movements:

A typical performance lasts approximately 9 minutes.[3]

Shostakovich published an article on April 11, 1935 stating that he was currently working on chamber music and instrumental works, including a string quartet and violin sonata. Instead, the only score he completed that year aside from his film music was the Five Fragments.[4] In a 1973 interview, Shostakovich confirmed that the music was intended as sketches for a larger work that he never embarked upon.[5] According to Laurel Fay and Marina Frolova-Walker[6] the Five Fragments prefigured aspects of the Fourth Symphony, with the former calling them "preparatory work" for the larger piece.[4]

References
  1. Fay, Laurel (2000). Shostakovich: A Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 93. ISBN 0195134389.
  2. Fay 2000, p. 350
  3. "Dmitri Shostakovich - Five Fragments". www.boosey.com.
  4. Fay 2000, p. 93
  5. Brown, Royal S. (October 1973). "An Interview With Shostakovich". High Fidelity. 23 (10): 88. Yes. [The Five Fragments] were intended as sketches for a larger work. But I was simply never able to undertake it.
  6. Frolova-Walker, Marina (2017). Musical discoveries. Pentatone. p. 8.
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