Yuri Bashmet teaches Shostakovich: Sonata for viola and piano

The virtuosity and strong personality of Yuri Bashmet irradiate this masterclass dedicated to a work that suits him perfectly, since it was composed by his eminent countryman Dmitri Shostakovich.

Yuri Bashmet is the absolute reference for viola. By giving a new life to this instrument often used to play chamber music, the musician inspired a whole generation of composers from Gubaidulina to Schnittke. The Times describes the violist as "without doubt, one of the world's greatest living musicians," since he closely worked with icons such as Rostropovich or Richter. Currently director of the December Nights Festival in Moscow, chief conductor of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Russia, he is also director of the Moscow Soloists, an ensemble he created in 1992.

Completed in July 1975, a few weeks before the composer's death, Shostakovich's Sonata for viola and piano in C Major, Op.147 has the paculiuarity of being composed by three movements, two of which are slow and structure a more dancing, almost folkloric, central movement. The viola's range gives to the whole piece a strongly expressive character. In order to compose this work, the master took inspiration not only in his native Russia's folklore, but also in many other composers, since the Sonata's last movement reveals borrowings from Beethoven, Berg, Rachmaninoff or Wagner's famous works.

The Masterclass Media Foundation Archives offer to students and music lovers around the world filmed masterclasses, given by the best talents, on the greatest works of the classical repertoire. Their primary purpose is to provide a valuable educational resource in order to perpetuate passion and knowledge from one generation to another.