Prokofiev & Shostakovich: Violin sonatas Dina Ugorskaja & Nathalia Prishepenko

• Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953): Violin Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 80:
• 1Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 80: I. Andante assai06:15
• 2Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 80: II. Allegro brisco07:15
• 3Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 80: III. Andante06:45
• 4Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 80: IV. Allegrissimo07:22
• Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975): Violin Sonata in G Major, Op. 134:
• 5Shostakovich: Violin Sonata in G Major, Op. 134: I. Andante assai10:43
• 6Shostakovich: Violin Sonata in G Major, Op. 134: II. Allegretto07:04
• 7Shostakovich: Violin Sonata in G Major, Op. 134: III. Largo. Andante13:59
• Total Runtime59:23

Info for Prokofiev & Shostakovich: Violin sonatas

Natalia Prishepenko and the late Dina Ugorskaja, on what was to be her last recording, present stunningly personal and virtuosic performances of two of the greatest violin sonatas written by Russian composers.

This recording took place in the Studio 2 of the Bayerischer Rundfunk in Munich, in February 2016. Dina Ugorskaja pursued the finishing process of the master with great impulse and unbelievable energy during a time when her health was abating. This project will stay simply as a singular milestone.

Prokofiev and Shostakovich were ambivalent toward one another. Prokofiev accused Shostakovich of "devouring everything" (the fact that the younger composer dared to incorporate the street genres of entertainment music into his classical compositions) and affirmed that Shostakovich had no gift for melody. Shostakovich, for his part, occasionally found Prokofiev's music too crude, too clearly illustrative. Yet, in spite of the largely unfair criticism they directed toward one another, each one never let his counterpart entirely out of his sight, or, to be more exact, of his ears. Ever since the 1920s their music was featured on joint recital programmes. The young Shostakovich acknowledged Prokofiev's influence on certain of his own works. Prokofiev, when abroad, encouraged "chemical exchange between Russia and Europe" and promoted Shostakovich's works in particular, even expressing the wish that his younger colleague be allowed to perform abroad, too. But that was not to be. (From the booklet lines notes by Tatjana Frumkis).

Natalia Prishepenko, violin
Dina Ugorskaja, piano

Dina Ugorskaja
When she was seven years old, Dina Ugorskaja gave her first public performance in the Philharmonic Hall of her home town of Leningrad (today renamed Saint Petersburg). Born in 1973, she received her first musical instruction from her father, Anatol Ugorski, and from Maria Mekler. She also took voice lessons specialising in early music. From 1980 to 1990 she studied piano and composition at the special music school for gifted children at Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory. In the meantime, she continued making public appearances in solo recitals, in chamber music and in piano concertos with orchestra. Her first string quartet, composed when she was fifteen, was premiered in the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Hall. The Ugorski family left Russia in 1990. Dina Ugorskaja pursued her studies at Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin with Prof. Galina Iwanzowa before going on to the Musikhochschule in Detmold, where she studied under Prof. Nerine Barrett and obtained her solo diploma with honours in 2001. She also received important counsel from musicians such as Ruvim Ostrovski, Edith Picht-Axenfeld, Andras Schiff and Hans-Dietrich Klaus.

From 2002 to 2007, Ugorskaja taught at the Musikhochschule in Detmold. She then relocated to Munich, where she lives now.

Dina Ugorskaja made appearances at the festivals of Schwetzingen, Hitzacker, Dijon, Rottweiler, Kassel, the Feldkirch Schubertiad and others. She has made guest appearances in Bayreuth, Berlin, Dortmund, Bielefeld, Cologne Philharmonie, Leipzig Gewandhaus and Stuttgart Liederhalle, performing solo piano concertos with the following orchestras: Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (Leipzig), the South West Chamber Orchestra (Pforzheim), the North West German Philharmonic (Herford), the Wurttemberg Philharmonic (Reutlingen), the Lemberg Philharmonia Orchestra (Ukraine), the Vladimir Philharmonic Governor's Symphony Orchestra (Russia) and St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra. She has worked together with conductors of the likes of Ravil Martynov, Vladimir Jurowski, Vladislav Czarnecki, Norichika Limori and Peter Gülke. Chamber music partners have included Hans-Dietrich Klaus (clarinet), Sergio Azzolini (bassoon), Natalia Prishepenko (violin), Anna Lewis (viola), Xenia Jankovic (cello), the Auryn Quartet and Ugorskaja's own father, Anatol Ugorski (piano).

Dina Ugorskaja has made several CD releases. The earlier ones feature works by Bach, Handel, Beethoven, Chopin and Shostakovich, including a joint recording of the Bach and Mozart two-piano concertos with her father Anatol Ugorski. Her recording of the late works of Robert Schumann has been nominated for the 2011 International Classical Music Awards. The most recent releases feature six Beethoven's late piano sonatas; the last Beethoven-CD was nominated for the 2013 German Record Critic's Award.

German classical music magazine Fono Forum recently remarked: 'Dina Ugorskaja's interpretations are particularly credible, thanks to their independence and originality. [...] She applies her own creative fantasy to the music as its unfolds, and she is able to make the rhythm 'breathe' without ever disrespecting what is written in the score.' (Translated by Stanley Hanks)

Booklet for Prokofiev & Shostakovich: Violin sonatas