Classical Music | Cello Music

Recorded on 12/07/2016, uploaded on 06/17/2017

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

I.     Allegro non troppo – Largo
II.     Allegro
III.     Largo
IV.     Allegro

Dmitri Shostakovich wrote his Sonata for Violoncello and Piano in D minor, Op. 40 in 1934, just prior to the censure of his music by Soviet authorities, and during a period of personal turmoil in his life. Shostakovich had fallen in love with Yelena Konstaninovskaya, a 20-year-old translator. The affair resulted in a divorce from his wife, Nina, and it was during their separation that he composed the cello sonata for his friend and former principal cellist of the Bolshoi Theater, Viktor Kubatsky, with whom he premiered the work later that year. The music is imbued with a wide range of emotions, from meditative lyricism to tempestuous, caustic sarcasm.      Notes by Tomoko Fujita

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.