Arcanum - Dmitri Shostakovich, Lera Auerbach Kim Kashkashian & Lera Auerbach

• 1 No. 1 in C Major. Moderato 01:32
• 2 No. 2 in A Minor. Allegretto 01:00
• 3 No. 3 in G Major. Andante 02:10
• 4 No. 4 in E Minor. Moderato 02:17
• 5 No. 5 in D Major. Allegro vivace 00:41
• 6 No. 6 in B Minor. Allegretto 01:32
• 7 No. 7 in A Major. Andante 01:27
• 8 No. 8 in F-Sharp Minor. Allegretto 01:05
• 9 No. 9 in E Major. Presto 00:43
• 10 No. 10 in C-Sharp Minor. Moderato non troppo 02:13
• 11 No. 11 in B Major. Allegretto 00:59
• 12 No. 12 in G-Sharp Minor. Allegro non troppo 01:33
• 13 No. 13 in F-Sharp Major. Moderato 01:15
• 14 No. 14 in E-Flat Minor. Adagio 02:19
• 15 No. 15 in D-Flat Major. Allegretto 01:13
• 16 No. 16 in B-Flat Minor. Andantino 01:22
• 17 No. 17 in A-Flat Major. Largo 02:20
• 18 No. 18 in F Minor. Allegretto 01:06
• 19 No. 19 in E-Flat Major. Andantino 01:50
• 20 No. 20 in C Minor. Allegretto furioso 00:47
• 21 No. 21 in B-Flat Major. Allegretto poco moderato 01:04
• 22 No. 22 in G Minor. Adagio 02:31
• 23 No. 23 in F Major. Moderato 01:26
• 24 No. 24 in D Minor. Allegretto 01:31
• 25 Arcanum: I. Advenio 04:50
• 26 Arcanum: II. Cinis 07:03
• 27 Arcanum: III. Postremo 05:09
• 28 Arcanum: IV. Adempte 04:53
• Total Runtime 57:51

Info for Arcanum - Dmitri Shostakovich, Lera Auerbach

Kim Kashkashian introduces a duo with Russian composer-pianist Lera Auerbach. Their first collaborative recording features Auerbach’s viola and piano version of Dmitri Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes op. 34, and Auerbach’s own, darker, sonata for viola and piano, Arcanum. The musicians first met at Switzerland’s Verbier Festival in 2010, although Auerbach had long been aware of Kashkashian’s recordings, and the “quality of life-or-death-intensity to her performing, which is rare and wonderful.” Arcanum, accordingly, was written for Kashkashian. Its title, the composer explained in a recent interview, “means ‘mysterious knowledge’: I was fascinated by the inner voice within each of us, some may call it perhaps intuition, some maybe guided meditation, but there is some knowledge that we have, which we may not necessarily verbalize or rationalize. This knowledge allows us to see the truth, to be guided, to seek answers.”

Of Auerbach’s roles as composer and performer in this programme, Kim Kashkashian notes that “Lera performs any piece of music as if she had composed it: she has a way of understanding the perspective of a piece of music, its structure, its character and the colors that go with it.”

Dmitri Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes for piano (1933) gained renewed popularity through Dmitri Tsyganov’s transcriptions of some of them for violin and piano. Lera Auerbach first turned her attention to violin/piano transcriptions of the preludes Tsyganov had not reworked. In 2008, she set the full cycle for cello and piano, two years later creating a version for viola and piano intended, she said, as a contrasting partner piece to the Sonata for Viola and Piano op 147, Shostakovich’s sombre last work. “This way, violists could enjoy both sides of Shostakovich. The journey through the 24 Preludes gives so much opportunity for colours, for experimentation of different characters, for humour – there is a lot of humour in these Preludes.”

Kim Kashkashian, viola
Lera Auerbach, piano

Kim Kashkashian
internationally recognized as a unique voice on the viola, was born of Armenian parents in Michigan.

She first gained international recognition as recipient of the Pro Musicis award, and as a prize winner in the Tertis and ARD Munich International Competitions, which led to a creative association with the Lockenhaus Festival led by Gidon Kremer.

Kim Kashkashian has appeared as soloist with the major orchestras of Chicago, Cleveland Berlin, Milan, London, Tokyo and Vienna, working with conductors including Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Christoph Eschenbach, Ricardo Chailly, Dennis Russell Davies and Franz Welser-Möst.

Her recital appearances include the great concert halls of Vienna, Rome, Paris, Berlin, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and London with her duo partners pianist Robert Levin, and percussionist Robyn Schulkowsky.

Kim Kashkashian’s quest for new directions and forms of music making is an active element of her musical life. Her work with the composers György Kurtág, Giya Kancheli, Krzysztof Penderecki, Ken Ueno, Betty Olivero, Tigran Mansurian and Peter Eötvös has extensively enriched the repertoire for viola.

Lera Auerbach
Virtuoso pianist and composer Lera Auerbach is one of today’s most sought after and exciting creative voices. Her boldly imaginative and evocative compositions are championed by today's leading musicians, conductors, choreographers, and opera houses. Ms. Auerbach's uniquely personal interpretations of the standard keyboard repertoire are making her a favorite of audiences worldwide.

Lera Auerbach was born in the city of Chelyabinsk at the gateway to Siberia. After writing her first opera at twelve years of age, she was invited for a concert tour to the United States in 1991, where she decided to stay and continue her studies in piano and composition at the Juilliard School in New York. Auerbach has been awarded the prestigious Hindemith Prize by the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Germany, and Deutschlandfunk’s Förderpreis. She received a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship and recently was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The 2012-13 season includes the premiere of Auerbach's "String Quartet No 6", commissioned by the Tokyo String Quartet for their farewell tour, and a new viola and piano work to be performed by Kim Kashkashian and Ms. Auerbach on tour.

Booklet for Arcanum - Dmitri Shostakovich, Lera Auerbach