Music for Viola and Piano by Shostakovich, Stravinksy, Glazunov Duo Phoné

• Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975): 5 Pieces from the Gadfly, Op. 97 (Arranged by Vadim Borisovsky 1900-1972):
• 1 Shostakovich: 5 Pieces from the Gadfly, Op. 97 (Arranged by Vadim Borisovsky 1900-1972): I. Scene 02:24
• 2 Shostakovich: 5 Pieces from the Gadfly, Op. 97 (Arranged by Vadim Borisovsky 1900-1972): II. Intermezzo 05:14
• 3 Shostakovich: 5 Pieces from the Gadfly, Op. 97 (Arranged by Vadim Borisovsky 1900-1972): III. Sharmanka 02:00
• 4 Shostakovich: 5 Pieces from the Gadfly, Op. 97 (Arranged by Vadim Borisovsky 1900-1972): IV. Folk Feast 02:53
• 5 Shostakovich: 5 Pieces from the Gadfly, Op. 97 (Arranged by Vadim Borisovsky 1900-1972): V. Romance 04:39
• Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971): Suite Italienne for Viola and Piano (1933):
• 6 Stravinsky: Suite Italienne for Viola and Piano (1933): I. Introduzione 02:09
• 7 Stravinsky: Suite Italienne for Viola and Piano (1933): II. Serenata 03:04
• 8 Stravinsky: Suite Italienne for Viola and Piano (1933): III. Tarantella 02:27
• 9 Stravinsky: Suite Italienne for Viola and Piano (1933): IV. Gavotta Con Due Variazioni 03:40
• 10 Stravinsky: Suite Italienne for Viola and Piano (1933): V. Scherzino 01:22
• 11 Stravinsky: Suite Italienne for Viola and Piano (1933): Vi. Minuetto E Finale 04:29
• Alexander Glazunov (1865 - 1936): Elégie in G Minor, Op. 44 (1893):
• 12 Glazunov: Elégie in G Minor, Op. 44 (1893) 05:09
• Dmitri Shostakovich: Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 147:
• 13 Shostakovich: Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 147: I. Moderato 09:28
• 14 Shostakovich: Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 147: II. Allegretto 07:07
• 15 Shostakovich: Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 147: III. Adagio 12:19
• Total Runtime 01:08:24

Info for Music for Viola and Piano by Shostakovich, Stravinksy, Glazunov

From his time as a student at the Leningrad (today’s St Petersburg) Conservatory, Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) developed a strong connection with cinema, earning a living in the 1920s as a pianist for silent films. He would go on to write scores throughout his career for dozens of sound films, among them Aleksandr Faintsimmer’s The Gadfly (1955), beloved in the Soviet Union for its themes of revolution and atheism. The writing, with its highly diversified contours, combines in an extraordinary way severe accents and romantic outbursts of a purely Russian style with atmospheres of a Mediterranean character. Vadim Borisovsky’s viola and piano arrangement is based on the suite for orchestra prepared from Shostakovich’s score by Lev Atovmyan.

The late 1960s marked the beginning of the composer’s final, dark and penetrating stylistic period, and his Sonata for viola and piano was his last composition and the only piece he never heard, its premiere only coming several weeks after his death. Dedicated to Fyodor Druzhinin, violist of Moscow’s Beethoven Quartet, is one of the most unique and oft played sonatas in the viola repertoire.

Written in three movements, there is no tonal centre or tonality.

Igor Stravinsky’s Suite Italienne has its origins in the composer’s ballet score Pulcinella, based on music newly discovered at the time and believed to be from the pen of Italian composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (some of it was later discovered to be by other baroque composers such as Domenico Gallo and Carlo Monza).

The resulting “neoclassical” style afforded Stravinsky an objectivity and emotional detachment, far removed from late-Romantic sentimentality or the dramatic, allusive style in the music of his earlier Russian period. He prepared the Suite Italienne for violin and piano from the Pulcinella ballet music with the help of his recital partner violinist Samuel Dushkin. In Leonardo Taio’s own viola arrangement, based on the 1947 Boosey & Hawkes edition (ed. Dushkin), the piano part remains unchanged while the viola part is adapted to exploit the instrument’s timbral potential.

At the turn of the 20th century Aleksandr Glazunov was widely regarded as the greatest living Russian composer. His Elégie in G minor Op.44 is an original viola and piano work, dedicated to his friend Franz Hildebrand.

In this delightful piece Glazunov successfully reconciles Russian nationalism and cosmopolitanism. Although he was the direct successor of Balakirev’s nationalism, he tended towards Borodin’s epic grandeur while absorbing a range of other influences that included Rimsky-Korsakov’s orchestral virtuosity, Tchaikovsky’s lyricism and Taneyev’s contrapuntal skill.

Duo Phoné:
Leonardo Taio, viola
Sofia Adinolfi, piano

Leonardo Taio
born in 1998, Leonardo Taio graduated in violin and viola with full marks and honors. In 2017 he attended the high specialization course in viola and chamber music held by Bruno Giuranna at the Chigiana Academy in Siena, obtaining the diploma of merit. He is regularly invited to play in the Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice, Filarmonica della Scala, and I Solisti di Pavia, and he played principal viola at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa.

Taio has performed chamber music with renowned artists such as Gary Levinson, Claudio Bohórquez, and Péter Nagy. He graduated in chamber music at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia where he was awarded the Ninì Perno scholarship. In 2021 and 2022 he attended courses held by Simone Briatore at the DeSono Association in Turin. Recently in duo with the pianist Sofia Adinolfi he won first prize at the Gasparo da Salò chamber music competition in Brescia.

Sofia Adinolfi
born in 1997, Sofia Adinolfi got in 2019 the Master Degree in Piano at the Conservatory “G.B. Martini” in Bologna, studying with M° Luigi Tanganelli. She also attended the Chamber Music Master Course at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, getting the Diploma with M° Ivan Rabaglia. She was awarded several national and international prizes, such as the Concorso Pianistico Città di Castiglion Fiorentino, Nuova Coppa Pianisti in Osimo (AN), Concorso Città di Riccione, “Ramon Lull” in Palma de Mallorca, Premio Nazionale delle Arti in the chamber music section playing in duo with violinist Giulia Pasquini, Concorso “Gasparo da Salò” in duo with violista Leonardo Taio. She had recitals in concert seasons at the Teatro Bonci in Cesena, Sala Mozart at the Accademia Filarmonica in Bologna, Sala Corelli of the Teatro Alighieri in Ravenna, concerts for the IUC in Rome and for the Accademia Chigiana in Siena.

She studied at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena with M° Lilya Zilberstein and attended masterclasses with pianists such as Angela Hewitt, Slavish Gadjiev, Benedetto Lupo, Fabio Bidini, Andrea Lucchesini, Vincenzo Balzani.

Booklet for Music for Viola and Piano by Shostakovich, Stravinksy, Glazunov