It's like Opus Shostakovichicum

"The Passacaglia on DSCH is a large-scale composition for solo piano by the British composer Ronald Stevenson. It was composed between 24 December 1960 and 18 May 1962, except for two sections added on the day of the first performance on 10 December 1963. The composer presented a copy of the score to Dmitri Shostakovich, its dedicatee, at the 1962 Edinburgh Festival.
The work takes the principle of the passacaglia or chaconne - namely, strict variations on an unchanging subject, usually a ground bass, and applies it across a very large single-movement structure that divides into a cumulative design of many different musical styles and forms. It is based on a 13-note 'ground' derived from the musical motif D, E-flat, C, B: the German transliteration of Dmitri Shostakovich's initials ("D. Sch."). (Shostakovich used these four notes as a musical 'signature', for example in his Eighth String Quartet).
Stevenson's work takes more than an hour and a quarter to perform. It is extraordinary in its scope, the range of its reference to historic events, and the musical influences absorbed. The work includes a sonata form first section, a suite of dances (incorporating a sarabande, jig, minuet, gavotte and polonaise), a transcription of a Scottish bagpipe Pibroch, a section entitled To Emergent Africa involving percussive effects directly on the piano strings, a section resonating to Lenin's slogan 'Peace, Bread and the Land'. The penultimate section is a huge triple fugue over the ground bass, the first fugue on a 12-note subject derived from the bass, the second combines the DSCH motif with the BACH motif (B-flat, A, C, B), and the third, on the Dies Irae chant, is inscribed In memoriam the six million (a reference to the victims of the Holocaust of World War II). The work ends with a series of variations on a theme derived from the ground marked Adagissimo barocco and organized on the principle of Baroque 'doubles', with the basic unit of metre halving with each variation.
The composer gave the world premiere at the University of Cape Town on 10 December 1963. In 1964 he recorded the work on a Petrof grand piano on two LPs issued under the auspices of the Editorial Board of the University of Cape Town, in a signed edition of 100 copies. (In 2008 this performance was reissued on Appian APR 5650 CD.) Stevenson also gave the work its European public premiere on 6 June 1966 as part of the Handel Festival in Halle then part of the German Democratic Republic. The first broadcast was given by John Ogdon on the BBC Third Programme on 22 May 1966, and Ogdon went on to give the British public premiere at the Aldeburgh Festival on 14 June 1966. He subsequently made a recording for EMI on two LP discs."
《 Wikipedia 》
Excerpt from "Passacaglia on DSCH" by Ronald Stevenson(1928 - 2015), published in 1967. Such a great 1-hour and 143 pages giant work have neglected by many for a long time. This piece was dedicated to well known Russian composer, Dmitrii Shostakovich.
p.f. Mark Gasser, live at Carneigie Hall

[@igo.spekkyjarvonvreich]

i knew the DSCH from the 8th string quartet and so it was an incredible thing when I listened to the 10nth symphony for the first time in concert, where it is also used alot

[@FougarouBe]

This motif occurs many times in Shostakovich works: Violin Concerto No. 1, Fugue No. 15, String Quartet No. 5, String Quartet No. 6, String Quartet No. 8, Symphony No. 10, Symphony No. 15, Piano Sonata No. 2 ... and maybe some more that I don't know :)

[@Medtszkowski]

4:48 I swear this sounds like someone singing

[@melonica90]

😮

[@snorefest1621]

fr

[@DynastieArtistique]

Heavy Busoni influences

[@cookiehead4759]

Thank you for the detailed description which adds a lot to the experience. I had never heard of this piece, it's an exciting discovery. I'm not sure how I would feel after one hour but this excerpt is definitely an interesting composition. Thank you for sharing.

[@ldman538]

Wow...

[@imdarealani]

Seems like another piece heavily inspired by the Busoni FC.

[@melonica90]

Exactly what I thought

[@TheSlowPianist]

​@@melonica90Yes, Stevenson was a massive Busoni fan and talked about him a lot!

[@christophedevos3760]

Well, I don't know, it's hard to judge about the quality because the pianist seems really to struggle with this piece (not entirely illogical if you watch the score). Is there a recording by Ogdon by any chance btw?

[@melonica90]

Wikipedia says "The first broadcast was given by John Ogdon on the BBC Third Programme on 22 May 1966, and Ogdon went on to give the British public premiere at the Aldeburgh Festival on 14 June 1966. He subsequently made a recording for EMI on two LP discs."
But idk where to find his recording

[@christophedevos3760]

​@@melonica90 the version by Clarke seems to have been released by the label Marco Polo on CD.

[@christophedevos3760]

@@melonica90... And there is a new version by Igor Levit on Sony.

[@luna_zhang]

the levit recording is the definitive one for sure

[@christophedevos3760]

@@luna_zhang you know it? I first thought that this was a release only with the Shostakovitch preludes and fugues. But very interesting nevertheless, I had never heard of Stevenson before.

[@user-uv3ux3jm3g]

Interesante

[@Sparsha-ij8rr]

Ну мне не понравилось, это скучно, без смысла

[@Sparsha-ij8rr]

Ну мне не понравилось, это скучно, без смысла