Testimony- The memoirs of Shostakovich, as related to & edited by Solomon Volkov

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37-38

text excerpt

Nikolayev often said to me, ‘Go and listen to how Marusya [Yudina] plays.’ (He called her Marusya and me Mitya.) ‘Go and listen. In a four-voice fugue, every voice has its own timbre when she plays.’ / That seemed astounding – could it be possible? I would go and listen, hoping naturally to find that the professor was wrong, that it was just wishful thinking. Most astounding was that when Yudina played, each of the four voices really had its own timbre, difficult as that is to imagine. / Yudina played Liszt like no one else. Liszt is a very verbose composer. In my youth I played a lot of Liszt, but then I cooled towards him completely, even from the point of view of sheer pianism. My first solo recital had a mixed programme, but my second was all Liszt. But then I became tired of Liszt – too many notes. / Yudina was wonderful at those Liszt pieces that didn’t have quite so many notes, for instance, 'Les Cloches de Genève', which is his best piano work.

excerpt from 'Testimony- The memoirs of Shostakovich, as related to & edited by Solomon Volkov' pp. 37-38 (183 words)

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1427836482806