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Prelude and Fugue No. 7, in A Major (digital only)
Dmitri Shostakovich

Prelude and Fugue No. 7, in A Major (digital only)

Hannes Minnaar

Label: Challenge Classics
Format: Download Album
Barcode: 0608917248227
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Catalog number: CC 72482
Releasedate:
- A new recording from Challenge Classics pivotal pianist, Hannes Minnaar.
- After his Diapason d’Or account of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Minnaar confronts the ‘Bachian’ masterpiece of the 20thCentury: Shostakovich’s Preludes and Fugues op. 87 
- Another work where any interpretation can never be exhaustive: as always, Minnaar offers his own, very personal view.
- In spite of the long duration of the entire work, Minnaar’s diversity of touch and suppleness between tension and tranquillity make up for a start-to-end engaging listening. 
After Bach's Goldberg Variations, which won him worldwide honours (including a Diapason d'Or), Hannes Minnaar challenges and confronts what has become a 'classic' of the 20th century repertoire: Shostakovich's Preludes and Fugues, composed in 1951. Here again, the qualities of his pianism, for which he is recognised as one of the leading musicians of our time, come under the spotlight: the diversity of touch and the suppleness between tension and tranquillity to characterise every Prelude and Fugue, the precision of tone, the lack of any affectation, a natural finesse in phrasing and articulation, and a familiarity with the score going hand in hand with a freshness that conjures a sense of improvisation. Here we encounter a new landmark in the crowded field of interpretations of this wonderful music.