This is a very special recording of Shostakovich’s last public performance at the piano. It comes from a recital in the Glinka Hall of the Petersburg Philharmonia on 28 May 1966. Vishnevskaya sang Shostakovich’s Satires, op. 109, with Shostakovich playing the piano. We know from his letter to Isaak Glikman that the rest of the programme comprised:
First Half
Preface to the Complete Edition of My Works (premiere)
5 Humoresques from Krokodil, op. 121, with Evgeny Nesterenko (premiere)
Shakespeare’s Sixty-Sixth Sonnet, translated by Pasternak (op. 62)
’Jenny’ by Burns, translated by Marshak (lat
...er op. 140)
Satires op. 109 with Vishnevskaya
Second Half
First Quartet
Eleventh Quartet (premiere), with the Beethoven Quartet
Vishnevskaya also sang fragments of Katerina Izmailova with Shostakovich at some point in the programme
By his own admission Shostakovich was terribly nervous to perform, and Vishnevskaya later said he was terrified to go on. ThShow more