Reflections

The "orchestral" color of the prelude reminds one again of Mussorgsky, Pictures at and Exhibition, the Gates of Kiev. Deep octave doublings in the bass stride beneath a noble lyricism in the treble. Thick and bold block chords shape a monolith of homophony, as yet uncarved by the tracery of counterpoint. An arduous, mountainous journey looms. And then, marked by Shostakovich in the score as very soft and majestic (maestoso), a clear, pencil-thin foreshadowing of the fugue's subject rises, as if in mists, from the sheer rock face of the prelude. It echoes again in valleys of low bass octaves, portentous but incomplete. The prelude dissolves.

Double pianissimo - very softly - and tenuto - smoothly. Thus begins Shostakovich's final fugue in Op. 87. Maestoso has vanished into liquid calm. Here is Bachian grace, richness, and bounty. The first subject generates a fugue that seems to form a final arch of reverent composure to match the 1st and 13th fugues with its "classicism", three pillars framing the magnificent monument that is Op. 87. It is a beautiful fugue that speaks so much more specifically than any words could. Eventually, this first, "inner" fugue winds down into an apparent coda of warm major 7th harmony, just about dissolving as completely as the prelude.

Accelerando poco a poco and crescendo: slowly, bit by bit, accelerate and grow ever more loudly. Thus enters the second subject with its own exposition and so begins a second inner fugue. This is a double fugue with two separate expositions. 8th notes at twice the speed of the quarter notes in the first subject enter way up in the treble, much higher than the first subject began. The second subject is highly chromatic vs. the very diatonically tonal first subject. This new fugue is passionate, longing, nervous and racing. Where before was stone and the static grace of sculpture, here is water, rain, fire and the urgency of energetic motion. It is shimmering, chilling, pouring, longing, reaching, crying in the treble, high octave doublings shattering with color like stained glass. Blinding light. Breathlessness. Panic? Is this second inner fugue the contemporary and emphatic Shostakovich vs. the ancient, unperturbed Bach of the first inner fugue?

Boom! goes the flashing ecstasy of contrapuntal simultaneity: the bass octave doublings drum the return of the 1st subject, this time all iron and stone like a stout Russian folk song. The1st subject takes the bass, the foundation, while the 2nd subject takes the treble, the shimmering heights of passion. Together they wield an awesome combined entity. And it is in this final, cathartic union that the maestoso marking finally returns again. Majestic indeed. A finale par excellance. This mighty fugue ends with all four voices in unison, spanning the vast tonal range of the sonic universe, sounding the 5 mighty tones in the head of the original subject, a final perfect cadence rooted in the bedrock of traditional Western tonality.