Scherzo for D.S

About

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of one of the greatest Russian composers, Dmitri Shostakovich, I contributed by writing this piece for piano trio. Attempts were made to capture the sarcastic, ironic and satirical nature of his music. However, I did not merely want to imitate his style, but rather to pay homage to what I think are some of the most powerful fundamental elements in his music.

There are often moments that are unmistakeably Shostakovich-esque, such as bars 41 to 73. Other times rapid time changes emphasizes the strong rhythmic pulse of this piece. The “coda” incorporates a Russian dance, which is even briefly interrupted by the man himself, with a stern expression on his face as if saying “What's this nonsense?!”.

Scherzo for D.S was given its first performance at the CANZ Composers’ Workshop in Nelson in June 2007, followed by two more performances that year by the Bouterey-Ishido brothers, Jun and Yuuki, and myself in Christchurch.